


Cherry, Lionel, and Thor: The Power of Shazam

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: After an exclusive boys' vacation in Cape Suzette which will be shared at a later time, Cherry, Lionel, and Thor are relaxing and hanging out together until they're called away to Fawcett, Pennsylvania. There, they meet a foster kid named Billy Batson who has a new destiny into adulthood as a superhero called Captain Marvel and has misadventures with his new foster family.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been a few weeks since the boys had come back from Cape Suzette, and they were enjoying their time with their significant others; while Atticus and Mo were hanging out in Louisiana, Cherry and Lionel were hanging out at Thor's place while the Moltenscar family was having a cook-out.

"So, does anyone remember or know why Atticus and Mo left town?" Thor asked for random exposition.

"Uh, I think they were gonna do research on Mo's nature powers or something like that," Cherry replied before smirking. "Either way, I'm sure that they'll have some fun alone together while I hang out with you boys."

"Well, that's fine with me!" Lionel exclaimed as he joined them.

"Hey, Lionel, hope you're hungry," Thor smiled. "We got burgers and hot dogs for days."

"I hope it'll be ready soon," Cherry said. "I could go for a burger right now."

"Patience." Thor reminded.

"Sounds awesome," Lionel replied. "And yeah, I could eat."

Phoebe soon came out and placed a boombox on the table as the three "big kids" came by as she carried her favorite doll in her arm.

"No Britney Spears." Thor told his little sister.

"But she's awesome." Phoebe smiled.

"...Fine, but just one song," Thor then said. "I'm worried about that girl's influence on kids your age."

Phoebe soon began to dance to "Hit Me Baby One More Time" with her doll.

"You weren't kidding," Lionel remarked. "I guess that _is_ valid reason to be concerned."

"Oh, it's always so nice to have Thornton's friends over," Moxie smiled as she came by with buns. "Thornton, dear, if you help me with the buns, I'll bring out my homemade lemonade."

"Sure, Mom, that sounds great." Thor smiled back as he came to help his mother.

"Such a sweet boy," Moxie beamed before looking at Cherry and Lionel. "Hello there, dears."

"Hiya, Mrs. Moltenscar," Lionel waved. "Pleasure to see you."

"Hello there, Lionel," Moxie smiled. "I hope you like burgers and hot dogs. I just need to decide what to make for dessert."

"Sure, I love burgers n' hot dogs!" Lionel replied. "And apart from pie or ice cream, I'm not too sure."

"How about pie _and_ ice cream?" Thor asked, nearly drooling.

"Ah!" Cherry yelped from the drool and soon took out a random umbrella as she stood underneath Thor.

"Ooh, I'm sure that would be just fine, Thornton," Moxie smiled. "I want your friends to be happy and comfortable here."

"We appreciate that immensely, Mrs. M." Cherry replied.

"Oh, but of course!" Moxie beamed.

Zolten soon turned over the burgers and hot dogs.

"Any adventures for us that you know of?" Thor asked Cherry.

"I dunno unless your uncle tells me, Thor." Cherry shrugged.

Just then, a car pulled up nearby, and Drell and Hilda came outside.

"Well... Speak of the devil." Lionel remarked.

"Kids, we got a new mission for ya!" Drell announced. "But first... May as well partake in the bounty and all that!"

"I had to say it..." Thor pouted bashfully.

"It's okay, Thor, it had to happen eventually." Cherry reassured.

"Hello, Drell." Moxie smiled warmly.

"Hello, little sister," Drell replied. "Hope you made enough for me."

"I always do," Moxie rolled her eyes before hugging Hilda. "Hey~"

"Hi~" Hilda smiled as she hugged Moxie back.

* * *

Shortly after Drell got plenty of food to eat, he cleared his throat. "Where was I? Oh, right; mission," he replied. "You three are gonna need to go to a place called Fawcett City so you can help out this orphan named Billy Batson." he showed a trading card-sized picture of the youngster.

Cherry took the picture to take a closer look with Lionel and Thor.

"Fawcett~" Phoebe randomly giggled as she tried to feed her Raggedy Ann doll.

"Billy Batson..." Thor repeated. "So, uh, do we have to help him get a family or something?" he then asked his uncle.

"Oh, no; that'll work itself out," replied Drell. "But something big will happen to change Billy's life forever. And he's gonna need help to guide him through it."

"Oh, um... Okay then..." Thor nodded.

"So are you gonna tell us or do we have to figure it out on our own?" Cherry asked the warlock.

"Look, just keep close to him." Drell advised.

"Yep, we're gonna have to find out on our own." Cherry groaned.

"I've heard stories of this task," Hilda smiled. "I don't doubt you kids will enjoy it."

"Gee, thanks, Hilda," Cherry rolled her eyes smarmily. "I guess we'll get packing as soon as possible."

"Already taken care of," Drell said as he handed the group three briefcases filled with clothes. "Now c'mon, time to get a move on. You're burning daylight!"

The three groaned only slightly as they grabbed their luggage and went to get going.

"And you be a good little girl for your parents," Drell said as he knelt down to Phoebe's height and gave her a lollipop. "I bet you got those two wrapped around your tiny little finger."

"You bet I do, Uncle!" Phoebe beamed as she accepted the lollipop.

Drell soon pinched her cheek playfully and hugged her.

Phoebe giggled before hugging him back. "I love you~"

"I love you too, dear." Drell replied.

"Do you approve of this?" Cherry asked Hilda. "We got a lot of responsibility... With him... The Justice League... I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to keep up."

"Hey, you should be fine," Hilda remarked. "Besides, you made it through high school, didn't you?"

"I guess you're right..." Cherry replied as a portal appeared to send them on their next adventure.

"Next stop: Fawcett City, Philadelphia!" Lionel declared as he rolled on through it.

"WHOO!" Thor beamed as he soon ran in next. "C'mon, Cherry! A brand new adventure awaits!"

Cherry watched them go as she heaved a sharp sigh.

"You're not backing out, are you?" Drell asked Cherry. "We made a deal, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Cherry nodded. "I'm not backing out... Just enjoying the scenery one last time."

Several moments passed as the three stood together after Lionel and Thor were already gone.

"...All right, I'm gone... See ya guys later." Cherry said in defeat and she soon went to go into the portal next to start her brand new adventure.

The portal closed up on one end, and once the three were through it, the other end shut as well.

* * *

"So this is it..." Lionel exclaimed. "The City of Brotherly Love! Gotta say, I am really liking this place so far."

"Any idea on where we're supposed to go though?" Cherry asked.

"We look for this kid, I think." Thor suggested as he took out the picture of Billy Batson.

"Then let's the plan," Lionel replied. "Time for a tracking spell."

Thor snapped his fingers and held out his hand, clutching the air a bit. Cherry then gave Thor the picture of Billy Batson. Thor soon took out his magic wand and waved it around the image so that they could track their target down for their new adventure. As they continued walking, Lionel poofed them into winter gear since he noticed that there was snow all around the area.

* * *

Finally, they noticed a young boy, heading up a walkway towards a house; the post box was labeled "Batson", in all caps.

"Looks like that's our man... Er, boy." Lionel noted.

"All right... Now to catch up with him without looking creepy..." Cherry said.

Thor got ready to make a snowball.

"Uh, no, no, no!" Cherry warned. "We don't wanna scare him."

"We want his attention and this is the best way to do that in winter." Thor reminded with a smile as he tossed the snowball up and down in the air, looking ready to throw it.

"No," Lionel urged. "You do that, and he'll probably get hostile. We need to wait and observe."

"Aww..." Thor pouted and dumped the snowball from his hand.

Cherry rolled her eyes and shook her head as they closely observed the boy. The boy seemed to stop right in front of the fence and stared right at the house.

"Strange. I wonder why he's not going in?" Cherry commented to herself.

"I suppose he's bracing himself emotionally." Lionel replied.

After his hesitance, Billy rang the doorbell.

"Yes?" asked a woman's voice.

"Yeah, uh..." Billy began. "...Is this Rachel Batson?"

"Who's asking?"

"Yeah, see, the thing is..." continued Billy. "...I think you're my mom."

Cherry, Lionel, and Thor listened in a bit to see what was going to happen.

A black woman soon came out the door with a small smirk. "Ya sure about that?" she then asked him.

Billy took a good look at the woman and felt awkward now. "...Sorry to bother you..." he then said as he decided to leave the woman's doorstep as this was clearly a mistake.

However as Billy walked away, some police cars began to show up, startling the trio slightly.

"You just had to take my lunch, huh?" The cop asked through the radio as Billy groaned to himself. "You save me any fries?"

* * *

**_LATER..._ **

Billy soon found himself seated before the desk of one E.B. Glover.

"Foster home in Pittsburgh reported you missing two weeks ago," said Mrs. Glover, as the trio watched via invisibility.

"You sending me back?" asked Billy.

"No." replied Mrs. Glover. "They don't want you."

"Harsh." Billy replied, smirking.

"You laugh, but you've run from foster homes in 6 counties, Mr. Batson," replied Mrs. Glover. "From good people...who want you, all in pursuit of someone who arguably does not." she took off her glasses. "It's time someone looked you in the eye & told it to you straight."

Billy's face grew firm. "I don't need parents to play make-believe with. I got a mom."

"Yes. You're some detective," Mrs. Glover nodded as she took out a notebook. "73 Batsons, between the ages of 28-40, and you've crossed out every one."

"She's still out there," Billy defended. "I know it."

'This kid almost reminds me of Atticus.' Cherry thought to herself.

"There's a couple outside, Mr. Batson," Mrs. Glover advised as she gestured to outside the door where a man and a woman were. "They run a group home."

"I can take care of myself." Billy huffed.

"When you're 18," Mrs. Glover remarked. "Until then, I won't have you living on the streets looking for someone who never looked for you. Give these people a chance. 'Cuz that's what they're giving you."

The woman outside the door gave a small and hopeful smile at the boy.

"You're out of options." Mrs. Glover soon concluded.

And so, with the trio following behind, discreetly, Billy piled into the car with the two parents.

"All right, let's get the spiel," said Mr. Vasquez. "Just stay with me and Rosa, we get it. We were foster kids back in the day."

Mrs. Vasquez chuckled. "Ooh, back in The Dark Ages."

"Girl!" Mr. Vasquez remarked. "I'm young at heart! Got my finger on the pulse!"

"Yeah, that's a reference to his blood pressure because he's old," Rosa replied. "Billy, do you have any food allergies?"

Billy was just quiet so far.

"Oh, wish you did," Mr. Vasquez told the boy. "Darla's cookin'."

"Oy, guerito!" Mrs. Vasquez scolded.

"What?" Mr. Vasquez asked in defense.

"Darla, huh?" Cherry commented between Lionel and Thor. "You don't meet many Darlas anymore."

"I think a Little Rascal was named Darla." Thor smiled bashfully.

Lionel nodded. "Still, these two seem like nice people." he remarked as the car drove off.


	2. Chapter 2

Soon after, the car arrived at a large house in a suburban neighborhood. There were colorful lights as well as some decorations as the Vasquez couple brought Billy to their home.

"We know how overwhelming it can all be," Mr. Vasquez advised as they were on their way to the front door. "New house, new faces. All up in your face. Just... Take it at your own speed."

"Hello? We're home!" Mrs. Vasquez called out as she came in through the door to alert the other kids.

"That's what happens when you suck!" A boy on the couch, watching his laptop screen, called out with a fiendish look on his face.

"So much for the welcome party." Mr. Vasquez muttered thickly.

"Yeah, that thing growing out of the couch would be Eugene." Mrs. Vasquez introduced Billy.

"Is that him?" A young girl beamed as she soon came out meet the new boy. "Oh, my gosh! Billy!" She then ran over and hugged Billy instantly.

"Welcome home!" The girl gushed.

"And that's Darla." Mr. Vasquez then said.

"I'm Darla," The young girl beamed. "Big hugger. "

"I noticed." Billy muttered.

"Die! Die! Die!" Eugene soon called out while playing his game.

"He doesn't mean that," Darla said softly to Billy. "It's the game."

"Hey. No sodas after dark, remember?" Mr. Vasquez said to Eugene as he removed the headphones to get the boy's attention as three bottles were shown to be next to him.

"...Whoa. When did it get dark?" Eugene suddenly asked.

"Oh, the poster. I made you one. Come look" Darla beamed as she grabbed Billy's hand and pulled him over before seeing a couple of weights on top of a colorful piece of paper. "Oh, no! Sorry, Pedro must've been working out. His goal is to be swole," she then took out a piece and winced as it ruined the colorful poster before she gave it to Billy bashfully. "Oh. Here."

"Yes. Exactly why your Math Department is so uniquely suited for me," A teenage girl said on her cell phone before she put it down briefly. "I can't, I can't even... With Eugene right now. Sorry. Mary. Hi. College interview." she then said to the new boy.

"I'm Billy." Billy introduced himself.

"What am I most excited about? Oh. What a great question," Mary smiled on the phone before looking nervous and faced Mr. Vasquez to ask for some advice to pull off her interview. "I was hoping you'd ask... What am I most excited about?"

"Mention you're a foster kid," Mr. Vasquez smirked. "Colleges eat that up."

"What I'm most excited about is the campus experience," Mary then said on the phone, feeling confident and secure now. "As a foster child, I'm a big believer in finding family and friends in the most unlikely of places."

"Oh, I'm gonna miss that girl so much!" Mrs. Vasquez gushed before looking at Billy. "It's Caltech, it's a very prestigious school."

"And also all the way in California." Mr. Vasquez added.

"But we don't have to talk about that right now," Darla smiled bashfully. "It's a tough subject for me. Do you like vegan food?"

"Mm-mm." Mr. Vasquez shook his head quickly.

"'Cuz, see, I love animals." Darla continued out of excitement.

"Well, she's very talkative." Lionel noted.

Just then, a smoke detector started beeping.

"Oh, no, the tofurkey!" Darla exclaimed as she ran into the kitchen.

"Oh, no, we may hafta eat a real turkey!" Mr. Vasquez added as he ran in after her.

Billy looked uneasy. "Is that...?"

"It's okay, c'mon," said Mrs. Vasquez, leading Billy to the stairs. "I'll show you your room."

Cherry, Lionel, and Thor continued to watch.

"...So what should we do?" Cherry asked. "When do we interact with Billy? I feel like I'm just watching a movie right now."

"We'll get our chance," Lionel urged.

* * *

**_AND SO, THE NEXT DAY..._ **

Billy and his new siblings were standing outside Fawcett High School, along with Lionel, Cherry, and Thor, who were disguised as 10th-graders.

"Big school; 2,000 students; you might think, 'wow, so many strangers'," explained Darla as the group crossed the street. "But not if you think of them as possible friends; then, 'Oh, so many friends.' The principal, her name's Shirley. She's the best."

"Next." A man called as they came to the door which had a metal detector as well as any contraband that wouldn't be allowed in school doors.

Several kids unloaded their backpacks and went through the scanner to make it through since certain things weren't allowed in school.

"This is our security scanner," Darla informed Billy. "Like in an airport. It's totally safe."

"I know what it is," Billy reassured her before whispering to his new foster brothers. "Does she always do this?"

"Mm-hmm." Pedro nodded.

"Silence makes me uncomfortable." Darla pouted.

"She's almost never uncomfortable." Eugene scoffed as he played with another video game.

"Have a good first day, big brother~" Darla beamed as she then suddenly hugged Billy after they got past security.

"Look, you don't have to hug me all the time," Billy said to her. "We're not actually brother and sister, so..."

Darla began to look sad at that fact. "I'm sorry..." she said lowly as she went down the hallway.

The adventure trio winced as that looked a little heartbreaking, even to Cherry, though of course, she had feelings and wasn't made out of solid stone like others would believe her to be.

Freddy put his arm around his little sister's shoulder. "Hey..." he said, trying to lift her spirits.

"Hey..." Darla replied sadly, as Freddy guided her down the hall.

Billy tried to speak up. "I didn't mean to make her--" he began.

Freddy just put up his hand in response, as he led his sister.

"Aw... Poor kid." Lionel sighed.

"She's eccentric and exuberant..." Cherry commented.

"Like a little puppy." Thor smiled.

Billy sighed as he went to walk off before stepping back. "Oh, uh, excuse me," he said to the trio. "You go to this school?"

"You could say that," Cherry replied thickly as that should've been obvious. "Erm... I'm Christina..." she then quickly said. "And these are my good friends: Leon and Thompson."

"Hi." said Lionel/Leon.

"Cool to meet you." added Thor/Thompson.

"Yeah... Same," Billy replied. "We should probably get going. We could be late."

"Oh, yeah!" Thor/Thompson grinned. "Gotta get to class and all that good stuff!"

"Right... Calm down a little..." Cherry/Christina told him, trying to calm him down.

Billy glanced at them before he soon followed his three new friends onto class and to get started and settled into their new school.

"Too much?" Thor/Thompson whispered to the girl.

"Maybe just a little bit." Cherry/Christina whispered back in warning.

"Next time, dial it down, okay?" Lionel/Leon asked.

"Okay..." Thor/Thompson replied.

The trio soon went about their school day like normal and luckily, no one suspected a thing. Cherry sat behind a tree as she brought out a compact mirror that was ringing, cleverly disguised as it was actually a communicator.

* * *

 _ **"How's it going?"** _Drell asked Cherry.

"Well, we found Billy and saw his new family, we're just trying to be his friend," Cherry replied. "So far, no one suspects anything different from us and we used codenames in order to blend in."

 ** _"Impressive work, Cherry,"_ **Drell approved. ** _"I might call again in case you need to do something in specific, but you're doing really great so far."_**

"I'm flattered, sir!" Cherry beamed at his approval. "Well, I better get back to work."

 ** _"Yeah, good idea,"_** Drell replied. **_"Over and out."_**

Cherry nodded as she closed the compact mirror and poked her head out and soon snuck back inside the campus. Luckily, no one saw her or anything she was up to. It was almost the perfect plan in helping out Billy Batson.

* * *

And now, it was lunchtime.

"And I thought Mrs. Crudup made unedible food," Cherry grimaced at the sight of the cafeteria food shown on a tray. "Luckily for me, Thor's almost a gourmet chef."

"Who wants to try a pinwheel?" Thor smiled at Lionel as they found a table to sit at.

"Pinwheel?" asked Lionel.

"Pinwheel sandwiches are small sandwiches that are curled up into a roll," Thor explained before he showed Lionel one that was mostly chicken-based and shoved it into his mouth to let him try it out. "I made this one for you~"

Lionel clapped his hands, gave a couple thumbs-ups, and swallowed his sandwich. "So... GOOD!~"

Thor laughed happily before looking over to Cherry. "Hey, you want one?" he then asked. "I made plenty for everyone."

"Yeah, I'll take some." Cherry nodded.

Billy was soon looking around for a place to sit.

"Okay, guys, act natural," Cherry whispered to Lionel and Thor. "Remember your assignments."

Soon, Christina, Leon, and Thompson nodded as they acted in-character and blended in with the other high school students for just in case Billy would sit with them since they were the only ones friendly with him.

Freddy soon sat with them. "If you could have one superpower, flight or invisibility, what would you pick?" he asked. "Everybody chooses flight, you know why?"

Billy looked at him, disinterested. "...So they can fly away from this conversation?" he asked.

"No, 'cuz heroes fly," said Freddy, as Billy got up and walked away from the table. "Who doesn't want people to think they're a hero, right? But-but invisibility, no way! I mean, that's perfect! Spying around on people who don't even know you're there, sneaking around everywhere; it's a total villain power, right?" Seeing that Billy had left, Freddy got up with his crutch, grabbed his tray, and after throwing it away, followed the others. "Then they did this study, and this is a real thing," he continued as Leon listened intently. "They asked people the same question; y'know, what power do you want, but this time, they made it so the answers were anonymous! And-and most people, since they knew that it was secret, said invisibility."

Christina blinked. "...And we thought that Darla kid was the chatty one..." she muttered.

"I dunno, this Freddy kid seems pretty smart." Leon replied.

"And I think that's 'cuz most people don't feel like heroes on the inside, deep down," Freddy finished. "...You're gonna run away."

Billy turned to face him.

"I mean, you stole my Superman bullet," Freddy continued. "Dude, I get it, I get it; you've been screwed over way too many times. You don't trust anyone. But that's the thing about invisibility: you handle it by yourself."

Billy scoffed. "I didn't steal your dumb bullet." he remarked before he went into the restroom.

Christina stepped aside before Thompson and Leon followed him.

"Well, that guy seems like a handful." Thompson said to Billy.

"Boy, I'll say," Billy rolled his eyes. "Uh, are you guys following me?"

"No, no... Just hanging out..." Thompson reassured. "We all had an adventurous first day of school."

The group soon walked outside later as it kept on snowing, with Mary waiting outside for them. "Hey, how was it today?" she asked.

Billy said nothing, just continuing to walk on.

"That good, huh?" asked Mary.

"I guess I made some new friends." Billy shrugged.

"Oh, good," Mary smiled. "Maybe I could meet them."

"Be my guest." Billy glanced at her slightly.

Before anything else could be said, a black truck jumped the pavement and nearly ran Freddy down.

"Oh, my God!" Mary exclaimed, helping her foster brother up. "Freddy, are you okay?"

Out of the truck came a pair of older boys.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Mary snapped as the boys slammed Freddy against the truck's surface.

"Ohoho, no way that's gonna buff out." said one of them.

"You gonna pay for that?" asked his brother.

"...For the dent you made almost hitting me?" Freddy replied. "Yeah, sure. You guys accept these?" he asked, flipping the bird at them.

The bully boys soon slammed Freddy down to the ground as a crowd formed. Freddy groaned as he was due for a world of hurt as Billy frowned at his foster brother.

"Brett, stop!" Mary cried out before one of the boys kicked Freddy in the stomach.

"Don't touch my brother!" Darla pouted from the fighting.

"What, do you need your fake family to stand up for you?" One boy huffed as he grabbed Freddy's crutch. "Stand up for yourself, Freeman."

"Yeah, huh?" The other added. "Hey, Freeman. Freeman, here, stand up. Stand up for yourself."

Billy soon hiked up his hood and decided to walk away from the situation.

"What are you gonna do, go home and cry to Mommy?" The boys continued to hassle poor Freddy. "Oh, yeah. You don't have a mommy."

That was what set Billy off. So he went back, and smacked the jerks with Freddy's crutch.

"I just realized something," said Lionel. "WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING?! WE SHOULD BE GETTING INVOLVED, NOT JUST STANDING AROUND WATCHING!"

Thor was shown to be breathing heavily.

"I think the bull's ready to charge." Cherry said to Lionel.

"RAAAWR!" Thor soon roared before he ran right over and began to attack the bullies.

"BACK OFF, ASS-BAGS!" Eugene declared, swinging a pair of nunchaku. "I know how to use these!" But he accidentally hit himself in the head.

"Well, when in Rome." Leon shrugged as he joined Thor in beating up the two boys.

Just then, Billy got to his feet and made a run for it, with the boys coming after him. 

Christina suddenly slid in and glared at the bully boys. "Going somewhere, monkeys?" she then glared at them.

"Pfft! You don't scare us!" One of the boys scoffed.

"Yeah, move it!" The other boy added before shoving Cherry back a bit.

"I don't think so..." Christina glared.

"Time for the bowling alley smackdown!" Thompson shouted, holding Leon like a ball before he rolled him. Said smaller boy knocked both bullies into the air, and they landed in a tree's branches.

"We better go after Billy," Leon told the other Vasquez kids. "See if he's okay."

"Alright," said Mary as she was with her siblings. "We'll see you back at the house."

Billy seemed to be running away.

"Hey, get back here!" Christina called out to Billy and ran after him.

"Sure, Chris, just chase him away." Thompson rolled his eyes.

"Billy, you don't have to run from us!" Christina told Billy.

"Get away from me!" Billy complained as he tried to run farther away. "You guys are nuts!"

The trio just ran after Billy, going into a subway station and following him onto a subway train; said train soon took off.

 ** _"Next stop, 30th Street Station,"_** said a voice as Billy and the others sat down. **_"Change for the Regional Rail Line."_**

"You didn't have to run from me." Cherry said to Billy.

"It's not you," Billy sighed. "It's just being a foster kid in a school even though my mom's alive."

"Do you know she's alive or do you just think she's alive?" Thor asked.

"I know she is," Billy insisted. "It's not a gut feeling or whatever, I just know for a fact that my mom's out there somewhere."

Suddenly the lights flickered and something strange began to happen.

"What's... Going on...?" Thor blinked in concern. "...That's not normal."

"H-Hello?" Billy called out, not seeing anyone else there. "What's going on?"

Strange symbols appeared in the LED signs, as a layer of ice crackled over the windows, and the train began to go much, much faster than it had before. And then... Suddenly, it all stopped. Cherry swallowed deeply, trying to hide her fear, though she wasn't sure what to expect, so she disguised her nerves with a deadpan and stoic look on her face that she was probably best known for. Billy blinked before he and the others soon stood up with him as they walked around since the train wasn't moving anymore. The ice still covered the windows and they had no idea where they were or what had just happened. The doors soon crackled open in front of them and they stumbled out into a dark, new, gloomy location.

"Whoa..." Billy whispered as he came outside to take a closer look with the new friends beside him. "Hello?"

"We might as well go out and explore," Cherry said to Billy. "I've been through stuff like this before."

With curiosity reigning supreme, the four adolescents ventured out into the strange new location.

While Billy eyed a caterpillar in a jar nearby, he suddenly heard a gust of wind sweep by. "What the hell?" he asked, his voice echoing through the place. "...Who's doing this?" Still, he received no answers.

"No point just hanging around," Cherry stated. "We should at least move it if we wanna find some answers."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Billy asked her.

"Why?" Cherry smirked as she put her hands on her hips. "Ya scared?"

"Pfft! No!" Billy snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'm not scared."

"Then come on, Billy Willy," Cherry chuckled as she walked on ahead. "I'm gonna check this out for myself."

"This girl's impossible..." Billy grumbled.

"We know." Lionel smiled.

"Ain't she great?~" Thor gushed, as he trotted along while carrying Lionel on his back.

Billy shrugged and followed behind.

* * *

Venturing through a tunnel, Billy and the others came into a room full of podiums that looked like they once housed statues. At the far end of the room were seven massive chairs, and upon the center chair, which was emblazoned with a massive lightning bolt, there sat a man with a long white beard, a red cloak, and holding a wooden staff with a glowing crystal on top.

"All right, Drell, this better not be the intro to a new horror movie or something." Cherry muttered to herself at what they had found.

The man soon stood up once he saw that he had an audience.

"Hi, um... I was supposed to get off at 30th." Billy spoke up, a bit feebly.

"Billy Batson." The man greeted the boy knowingly.

Billy was blown away and wide-eyed. "...How'd you know my name?"

"I am the last of The Consul of Wizards," The man informed as he stepped down to meet the children. "Keeper of the Rock of Eternity."

"Oh. You're that guy," Billy said, still stunned, but had a hint of disbelief in his voice. "Listen, I don't have any money."

"So, what's going on here, Rip Van Winkle?" Cherry added flatly.

"DO NOT PATRONIZE ME, CHILDREN!" The man suddenly snapped and stamped down his staff, emitting magical energy all around.

"Yah!" Cherry gasped as she suddenly stumbled backwards and fell on her butt.

"You are standing in the source of all magic," The man informed as he explained everything and displayed images all around with his magic to tell a story. "The Rock of Eternity. Seven foes, seven wizards, but long ago, we chose a champion, and we chose recklessly. He used his power for revenge. Releasing the Seven Deadly Sins into the world," he continued as the kids watched all around in wide wonder. "Millions of lives were lost. Entire civilizations erased from existence. That is why I vowed never to pass on my magic until I find one truly good person. Strong in spirit. Pure in heart."

"You ever hear of a guy named Drell?" Thor smiled innocently.

"No." The man replied firmly.

"Look, man... Maybe this is magic..." Billy said. "I dunno, but the people you're looking for good, pure people; I'm not one of them. I dunno if anyone is, really..."

The man stepped closer. "You and your friends, Billy Batson, are all I have," he said. "All the world has. So place your hands on the staff."

"Gross." winced Billy.

"And say my name so my powers may flow through you," The man continued. "I open my heart to you, children. And in so doing, choose you as champions."

Cherry, Lionel, and Thor listened closely.

"Do they get powers too then?" Billy shrugged as he gestured for the trio.

"They do not need my help, they are already provided." The man replied.

"Whoa! Hey! No one needs to know that!" Thor said nervously.

"Doesn't he though?" The man replied.

"Yeah, I guess he could," Cherry said to Thor. "We'll tell him more about us later if it's safe enough."

"Uh... Yeah... Whatever..." Billy shrugged at them before looking at the strange man. "Don't scream at me, Mister, but I really gotta get going."

"My brothers and sisters were slain by the sins," The man replied firmly. "Their thrones lie empty! My magic must be passed on. Now... Speak my name!"

"I-I don't know your name, sir." Billy shrugged.

"We just met," The man replied ominously. "My name is... Shazam."

Billy blinked before chuckling at the name as it sounded unbelievable. "Wait, for real?" he then asked.

"SAY IT!" The man's voice boomed, startling the boy.

"Okay. Jeez!" Billy flinched before hesitating as he took a hold of the man's staff. "Should I say it? Like, Shazam?"

"Yes! Carry my name and with it, you carry all of my powers!" The man soon said as suddenly, Billy was engulfed in a bright white light as Cherry, Lionel, and Thor watched this, though Cherry seemed to be filming this on her phone. "The wisdom of Solomon! The strength of Hercules! The stamina of Atlas! The power of Zeus! The courage of Achilles! And speed of Mercury!"

"Awesome..." Thor whispered like an easily impressed young boy.

After the transformation, the smoke cleared and there was shown to be a young adult man in a superhero uniform stylized by the wizard's outfit design in Billy's place. "What happened to me? Why am I...?" he then asked, panicking, having a deepened adult male voice. "W-W-What did you do to me? What did you do to my voice?"

"You have been transformed to your full potential, Billy Batson," Shazam told the boy as he seemed to be dissolving. "With your heart, unlock your greatest power. The thrones of our brothers and sisters await!"

"Are you dying?!" Thor asked in concern.

"I'm afraid my time has come, young one," The mysterious man replied before he withered away into nothingness. "Goodbye."

Billy yelped as he dropped the staff. "...Get me outta here!" he shouted, as everyone was surrounded by a flash of bright light.

* * *

When the light faded, Billy and the others found themselves sitting inside the subway train.

A man chuckled. "My brother, I applaud your choices today," he remarked. "Gold shoes, gold belt, white cape! It shouldn't work, but hot damn, it _does_!" he laughed.

Billy got up and grabbed his backpack, but when he was leaving, he bumped his head on the roof of the train.

"Oof." Cherry, Lionel, and Thor winced as that looked painful.

Billy waved at the other passengers and civilians who stared at him as he was as out of place as a long-tailed cat in a rocking chair factory.

"Hmm... I should fix this somehow..." Thor said as he brought out his spellbook, leafing through the pages.

"This is so awkward..." Cherry groaned. "Everybody's looking at us like we have lobsters crawling out of our ears."

"No!" Lionel replied. "He needs to figure out how this works for himself. Although I'll admit we could use some help... We need to find Freddy."

Thor soon put his spellbook away. "No use anyway, I can't find anything," he then said. "Now... To find Freddy."

"Can you do a locator spell?" Cherry asked him.

"Sure, but I'll need something of his for reference." Thor nodded.

Lionel handed Thor Freddy's prized Superman bullet collectible from Billy's bag.

"Hey!" Billy exclaimed.

"Ah-bap-bup!" Lionel stopped him. "Gotta find 'im somehow!"

"You're no fun." Billy pouted.

"We don't have to be fun, we have jobs." Thor replied.

"...What?" Billy asked, feeling confused.

"Just trust us," Cherry told Billy. "Calm down and we'll find a way for you to deal with this."

"Trust you? I don't even _know_ you!" Billy exclaimed.

"Well, we're the best there is," Lionel replied. "Now Thor, get on that tracking spell."

"This shouldn't be too difficult..." Thor smiled as he used the bullet as part of his spell as he held his wand in his other hand.

"What is that?" Billy asked. "A fairy godmother wand?"

"Psh! Please..." Thor rolled his eyes. "All right, now we gotta wait a few moments."

"This is too weird," Billy groaned. "What are you guys even supposed to be?"

"You could just call us your Guardian Angels," Cherry said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "We're going to help you and with these powers from Shazam. Trust us, kid."

Billy rolled his eyes with a groan.

"Hmm..." Thor paused until his wand began to blink at the star tip. "Ooh! I think I got a reading! He seems to be at the house."

"Then that is where we shall go!" Lionel declared, teleporting the group to near the house.


	3. Chapter 3

It was dark outside now as it was night time while the Vasquez couple called in concern about Billy since they hadn't seen him and the rest of their foster children were back home.

"Yes, officer, I'm aware he's run away in the past, I--" Mrs. Vasquez said on the phone before looking a bit surprised. "23 times?"

"Guy's got no social media presence," Eugene said as he checked his phone and Facebook on his laptop to get in touch with Billy, but there was no point with Mary and Darla sitting with him. "At all. The guy's a ghost."

Pedro was shown to be coming home and appeared to have a big fat F on a test paper before he crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash before taking out a notebook.

"You know guys, I'm happy to look for Billy. More than happy," Freddy rolled his eyes as he stood at the sink. "Then you gotta wash the dishes, that's what's more important. What are you gonna do, Freddy? Run after him? Ha-ha-ha! Very funny!"

Billy slammed a notebook on the window that said ** _"DON'T SCREAM!"_** on the pages.

Freddy soon panicked and began to scream anyway.

"No, wait, don't scream!" Billy cried out and tried to shush his new foster brother. "Uh, Victor! Victor! Victor! It's me! It's Billy! It's Billy! You asked me, 'Flight or invisibility'?" he then reminded to help convince Freddy of who he was. "I thought that was stupid, but now I look like this and I need your help! Meet me back here after lights out?" he then requested.

Freddy's only response was looking wide-eyed and stunned, feeling very confused over what just happened.

* * *

**_AND SO, A LITTLE LATER..._ **

"Oh, thank God!" Billy exclaimed as he saw Freddy outside.

"Hold it!" Freddy said. "How do I know you're not a supervillain using telepathic abilities to make me believe that you're Billy, huh?" he held up his phone, which had 911 at the ready. "All I have to do is press dial on this thing!"

"No, no, I have proof, I have proof, here!" Billy said as he took the bullet from Thor. "Look, I lied, okay? I took your bullet!" But then he accidentally dropped it, and it bounced into a sewer grate. "Oop! No, no, no! No! Stupid adult hands! But you saw it! You saw it, right? Look, I know we're not really close friends or anything, but you're the only person that I know that knows anything about this Caped Crusader stuff!"

Freddy blinked. "...That's Batman." he said.

"What?" asked Billy.

"He's not wrong." Cherry remarked as Freddy had a good point.

"Forget it," Freddy rolled his eyes and glanced at the lightning bolt on Billy's new uniform. "Can I...?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah." Billy nodded.

Freddy soon went to reach out and soon felt his fingertips tingle as lightning glittered from Billy's chest and onto his fingers.

"It's crazy, right?" Thor chuckled.

"What are your superpowers?" Freddy soon asked Billy.

"Superpowers?" Billy's eyes widened. "Dude, I don't even know how to pee in this thing!"

"You should be able to fly." Cherry said to Billy.

They soon went to get ready and came further along.

"Okay, let's do this," Billy said to the others as Cherry took out her phone to film this. "How do we do this?" he then asked.

"Ugh." Cherry face-palmed.

"Just, um, just like Superman or Saiyaman it," Freddy shrugged before he demonstrated with his arm, making rocket sounds. "Pkkwwff. Pkkwf."

Billy nodded as he tried to do that, but he didn't move.

"Obviously, you have to jump." Lionel suggested.

"Come on," Billy groaned. "How is that even obvious?"

"Okay. Try, uh, t-to believe that you can fly," Freddy suggested. "Okay, I read this deep dive in the pyramid studies of superpowers, and in 6 out of 10, belief is the key. Belief, belief, belief."

"Okay, okay. I believe I can fly," Billy nodded as he got himself ready. "I believe I... I believe I can fly. I--" he then called out as he went running and tried to jump up to fly, only to scream and suddenly crash in the middle of the road, being left in pain.

"...Did you believe?" Freddy asked with a wince.

Billy got back up and scoffed like it was obvious. "Yeah!" he then said in annoyance.

"Maybe we should try something else," Cherry suggested. "Like invisibility?"

"How do I do...?" Billy started. "You... Forget it. You know. Okay, okay, okay." So he held his breath and concentrated.

"Oh, my God! It worked!" Freddy exclaimed. "Where'd you go?"

"I'm right here," said Billy. "You can't see me?

Freddy looked around. "Where?"

Billy grinned. "I'm invisible!~" he exclaimed. "I'm right here! I'm over here! I'm invisible! I'm invisible!~"

"Hey!" yelled some guy nearby. "Nice outfit, dipshit!"

Freddy couldn't help but snicker at that.

"Hey! You wanna go?!" Cherry challenged the random guy.

Lionel and Thor soon held her back so she wouldn't try anything she would regret.

"I-I might have been testing invisibility and super-intelligence at the same time." Freddy grinned bashfully at his foster brother.

"Freeman, I'm gonna come over there and beat you!" Billy glared before a shot of lightning suddenly shot out from his hand and it hit a nearby lamppost.

The light soon crackled all of a sudden and powered down which alerted a few people not too far away, but still pretty close.

"Oh, my God! The lightning, it was staring us right in the face the whole time! Literally!" Freddy suddenly gushed in excitement.

"You and me should be buddies," Thor grinned at Billy. "Thunder and lightning."

"Thunder?" Billy asked.

"Yeah! Check it out!" Thor laughed as he got ready to display his own powers combined with his magic.

"Thor, I dunno if that's a good idea..." Cherry whispered.

"So put the brakes on it!" Lionel ordered. "I don't want you doing something crazy, especially not out in the open!"

"Aww..." Thor pouted.

"You can show him later." Cherry suggested.

"Really?" Thor grinned.

"Yeah, just later... Much, much, much later..." Cherry replied.

Thor beamed at that with two thumbs up. "I can't wait!" he then said to them.

"Great," Cherry nodded before looking at Freddy and Billy. "Now to take care of that electricity."

"Right!" Lionel declared. "We're gonna need to help you test your powers and figure them out!"

"Come on, I might have an idea." Freddy suggested as he led the way to somewhere else.

* * *

And so the group followed Freddy off. They soon came to some sort of power generator so that Billy could absorb the electricity there next.

"Okay, okay. Billy, we gotta give you a lightning-themed superhero name." Freddy beamed.

"Yeah!" Billy laughed in agreement as they watched his lightning powers in action.

The two laughed for a good while as this was so exciting and a lot of fun, but it had to stop. They soon suddenly stopped as they heard screaming from afar as someone appeared to be getting mugged.

"Never fails," Cherry commented. "A new superhero suddenly comes to town and crime just shows up on your doorstep. I've seen it a million times."

Billy looked over at them, then realized what it meant. "Oh! Right!" he exclaimed. "Hey, you, back--" he started before he zipped over in the blink of an eye. "...Off!"

"Hyperspeed! Check!" Freddy called, as Lionel wrote something down on a checklist.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry," Billy said to the woman who was perfectly fine as the man was on the ground, covering his eyes in agony. "I thought you were the one who was screaming."

"I doused him with pepper spray." The woman told him.

"Smart move," Billy nodded before glaring down at the man on the ground. "Yeah, hey, get up, Mr. Mugger Guy! Give the old lady her purse back."

"Um, I'm _your_ age. And he didn't get a chance to take it 'cuz I didn't let him take it." The woman scoffed as she showed him her purse.

"Good, yeah, good. You're really on top of this stuff," Billy nodded sheepishly before trying to sound like a brave comic book hero. "And that should teach you that old ladies, regular-aged ladies like yourself don't need your protection. Right? So get off, bro."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" The woman soon asked, unimpressed as Cherry, Lionel, Thor, and Freddy came over.

"His name is Thundercrack" Freddy grinned. "Hero to the people. With the power and speed of lightning all in one."

"Dude, that sounds like a butt thing." Billy complained about the superhero name.

"Yeeeah, we're not going with that name." Thor shook his head.

"Alright... Mr. Philadelphia!" Freddy then suggested.

"That's a cream cheese thing!" Billy retorted. 

"Powerboy, 'cuz he's got all the powers!" Freddy then tried again. "'Cuz sometimes pepper spray can't protect against evil."

The woman glanced at Billy, as Lionel winced. "Powerboy, do you know these children?" she asked.

"Like, like a teeny little bit," Billy replied nervously. "I don't really know--"

Freddy then hit Billy's arm.

"Yeah, they're, like, my manager and personal assistants," Billy then said. "He's like a miniature manager."

"I'm his manager and they're assistants." Freddy added.

"Of course we're assistants." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"And uh, you know. Powerboy's not gonna work either, okay?" Billy then whispered to Freddy. "So work on something else--" he then suddenly had a jolt of electricity shoot against the mugger which sent him flying against a pile of trashcans and bags, panicking him a bit.

"Hey, hey, hey... Electricity manipulation, hyperspeed, super strength!" Freddy beamed. "Dude, you're stacked! You're as cool as Superman! Almost. You should be Superman's helper and not that phony-baloney Saiyaman."

"HEY! Watch what you say about Saiyaman." Cherry glared in defense.

"I didn't see you or what's happened here," The woman said suddenly as sehe handed Freddy some money from her purse. "I don't wanna know. Just don't hurt me!" she then added before running away like a coward.

"Oh, no, no, I'm not gonna hurt you!" Billy cried out.

"Thank you for your kind donation." Freddy smirked as he collected the money, keeping Thor away from him who wanted to give the money back because it would be the right thing to do.

"No, no, no, but if you need any more help, just look for the superhero that still can't fly!" Billy soon added bashfully.

"Forget flying, man, we just made 73 bucks!" Freddy smirked.

"73 bucks?" asked Lionel. "Come on!"

Billy grinned. "Hey, wait a minute. I just got an idea!" he replied.

* * *

**_SHORTLY..._ **

"I'd like to purchase some of your finest beer, please," Billy told the girl at the counter of the gas station store.

Lionel snickered. "...This is gonna be so cool..." he whispered.

The girl pointed to the back of the store. Billy soon walked down that way with Freddy and the others following him.

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea." Cherry commented.

They soon made it up to the beer fridge, seeing the many bottles and cans.

"I think the girl's right," Freddy suddenly said. "I don't know about this. I mean, we don't have a fake ID."

"Guys, would you relax? Look at me, I am the fake ID." Billy assured them.

"Everything from the register!" A man's voice called out as the door was kicked open to show a robber. "Go! Go! Now! Come on! I don't have much time! Let's go! Move! I want it all! Hurry!"

Billy took Freddy, Cherry, Lionel, and Thor and hid behind an aisle with them, feeling nervous.

"This is your chance." Freddy whispered to his foster brother.

Billy realized he was right, and slowly made his way to the front. "Gentlemen!" he announced, standing bravely. "Why use guns when we can handle this like real men?"

The robbers looked at one another, then took out their pistols.

"Billy, look out!" Thor yelped.

Billy winced as the bullets hit him, but then he suddenly realized that they weren't hurting him!

"Incredible!" Thor gasped. "He'd be perfect in the League."

"Shh~" Cherry shushed him as she watched with amazement.

"Bullet immunity..." Thor realized. "You have bullet immunity!"

"I'm bulletproof." Billy smiled.

"Today is December 8th, and this is video proof of authenticity," Freddy soon said as he filmed Billy and faced the robbers. "Shoot him again."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here, here," Billy smiled as he took out one gun to one of the robbers. "Go, both of you, come on. Go to town."

The robbers felt confused and perplexed before they soon shot wildfire at him as he just stood there, fearless.

"W-W-W-Wait!" Freddy soon realized. "We still don't know if the suit is bulletproof or if you are. Shoot him in the face!"

"Yeah! Shoot me in the--" Billy added until he realized what was said. "In the face?"

The robbers then shrugged as they tried to do that and Billy only flinched slightly.

"It kinda tickles," Billy shrugged at the others before glaring at the robbers. "You're dead."

CRASH! The robbers were sent flying and crashing out the gas station window, landing hard on the ground, as the small group went to leave the establishment.

"Sorry about your window!" Billy called out on the way out, carrying some beer in his free hand. "Have a good night, but you're welcome for not getting robbed!"

The two robbers soon got up and ran away before two other people were shown, watching in amazement.

"Happy Holidays!" Lionel called.

"Hey," Billy told Freddy as he popped off the cap from one of the bottles and gave it to him. "To fighting bad guys."

"Yup," Freddy replied, as he, Billy, and Lionel took the bottles, and had a long swig... And then immediately spat it out.

"That tastes like actual vomit!" Billy groaned.

"WHY WOULD _ANYBODY_ DRINK THIS?!" Lionel exclaimed, before looking at Cherry. "... _THIS_ IS WHAT YOU WERE DRINKING LAST YEAR?! I mean, I get you were stressed out, but DEAR GOD, YOUR TASTE BUDS SHOULDN'T HAVE TO SUFFER!"

"I was drinking booze, not beer," Cherry clarified. "Bruce had some good stuff in his cabinet for parties."

Thor let out a "tsk, tsk, tsk" sound as he wagged his finger at Cherry.

"You know for a fact that I was going through some stuff!" Cherry defended.

"Tut, tut," Thor shook his head as he scolded her. "It's bad and bad for you."

"Still, it's alcoholic, and that stuff tastes like garbage water!" Lionel exclaimed. "Why _anybody_ would actually torture their tongues with this dreck, I'll NEVER understand!"

Thor soon took a sniff and drank some of the beer before shrugging as he didn't seem to mind it.

"That beer Atticus once drank during his rebellious phase was repulsive." Cherry remarked as Thor gulped in the background.

Billy and Freddy soon got themselves some junk food after buying from the gas station again after their first experience with beer was less than satisfactory.

"You know, habanero jerky, if you eat enough of it, it could burn a hole in your stomach." Freddy commented as Cherry helped herself to some Zebra Cakes.

"Worth it." Billy remarked.

"Yeah. Probably not you though," Freddy chuckled. "Probably got stomach superpowers."

"Probably. Oh, hey, what's up?" Billy nodded before they passed a woman. "I'm a superhero."

"Yeah, his name is, uh, Captain Sparkle Fingers." Freddy informed.

"No, it's not. No, it's not!" Billy soon cried out in strong denial and embarrassment. "It's not my name! Hey, we should hang out. We're like, the same age."

The woman rolled her eyes and walked off just as a police car came to the gas station.

"Ho! po-po. I'm out." Billy panicked as he ran on ahead.

"Hey, wait up!" Freddy cried out as he tried to follow Billy, though he limped because of his crutches.

"Come on, Thor, don't drag behind," Cherry told the young warlock who downed his first official beer bottle and then wiped his mouth. "Eww... You drank it all? That stuff tasted like--"

" _Don't_ tell me what to do." Thor slurred out, sounding a bit scary all of a sudden.

"I told you not to drink that dreck!" Lionel snapped. "Now you're gonna be sick the next day, and it'll be your fault!" He grabbed him by the hoodie and pulled him away with ease.

Thor growled viciously.

"Don't you growl at us!" Cherry told him firmly.

Thor chuckled. "Silly little mortal... I'd love to see you try to take me on..." he then held out his hands. "You're not even a tough girl... You're a mere insect... Not even an insect... A worm... A scurvy little worm~"

Cherry stepped back before shaking her head and glared as they continued after Billy and Freddy.

Lionel bopped him in the head. "You're gonna get sober and you're gonna like it!" he snapped, shoving a small blue bottle in his mouth and pouring the contents down his throat.

* * *

Later, the group sat on the stairs of the Philadelphia Public Library while Thor was coming down from his power trip.

"I mean, it's a pretty sick view," Billy commented. "I totally get why Rocky was training so hard to get up here."

"It is nice..." Cherry nodded in agreement.

"I like you like this," Freddy said to Billy. "This is so cool. I mean, no offense, but like, Like, at first, you were kinda like the opposite of how Darla is." he then tried to explain.

"A dick?" Billy guessed.

"Your words, not mine," Freddy smirked. "But yeah. All right, well, I feel like every criminal was either on drugs or asleep by now. Wanna head home?" he then asked as they relaxed in the quiet city night.

"You're gonna send him back home looking like that?" Cherry asked the boy.

"Yeah. I mean, usually, we'd have a lair to go back to, but that's long term," Freddy explained. "Right now he has a bunk bed."

"Well, you're gonna have to change back," Lionel advised. "Lord knows he can't walk in looking like that."

"I'm not sure if I remember how." Billy said bashfully.

"Seriously?" Cherry deadpanned.

Billy shrugged in response.

"Well, in that case, I wish you a lot of luck," Cherry smirked before looking around and sighing. "Okay, there's gotta be an easy solution for this."

"Say the wizard's name," Lionel suggested as Thor was done rolling around. "It turned you into Captain Thunder, so it could turn you back."

"Captain Thunder?" Cherry asked.

"I was gonna say Captain Marvel, but some lady already has the rights to that one," Lionel replied. "Name's Carol Danvers."

Cherry glanced over to no one and just shrugged at herself.

"And that'll work?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, so do it!" Thor cried out with a German accent. "DO EET NAOW!"

"...Shazam..." Billy, or Captain Thunder, replied. A bolt of lightning came down from the sky, engulfing the superbeing and changing him back into his mortal form.

"Good," Lionel nodded. "And _YOU_..." he glared at Thor. "We are going to have a long talk after we get Billy and Freddy home."

Thor's only response was a lone hiccup. Lionel nodded sharply at him as they hurried back to the Vasquez household.

"All right, hopefully your parents aren't too worried." Cherry said to Billy and Freddy.

"They're not my parents." Billy rolled his eyes.

Cherry just sighed as she rushed them over to the house as, no doubt, the couple was a bit worried as it was quite late. Fortunately, they managed to sneak Billy inside without much trouble, although Darla did see them sneaking inside.

"All right, guys, let's bunk in for the night." Cherry said to Lionel and Thor.

Lionel nodded as he poofed into some pajamas and got the others settled in for the night.

* * *

**_THE NEXT DAY..._ **

Captain Thunder and Freddy decided to get some rightfully-deserved payback on the boys who bullied Freddy by throwing their truck into the air... Only for it to smash on the ground.

"You know, guys..." Freddy told them as he strolled over. "...I don't think that's gonna buff out."

The two bullies were just baffled over what they just saw.

"Well, that was rather intense." Cherry said as she stood with Lionel and Thor.

The two nodded as they stood with the bewildered and awestruck crowd.

* * *

Eventually, the school day went on as the three wandered the hallways, though Freddy decided to have some fun with "Captain Thunder".

"I think we're doing alright in our mission so far," Cherry said to the boys. "No villains have come for Billy yet."

"Yeah... Yet." Thor reminded.

"Don't think you're out of the woods yet," Lionel scolded Thor. "Especially after last night!"

Thor gulped with a sheepish grin.

"Can we all just agree that alcohol is poison and we're never drinking it again?" Cherry suggested. "I mean, Atticus's rebellious phase when we were finding out about his long-lost family."

"And yet you drank it last year because you were _depressed_." Thor reminded.

"Yeah... I was depressed," Cherry emphasized in reminder. "That was to numb the pain away."

"Yeah, that really helped numb the headache you got the next day," Lionel replied sarcastically. "That's why NONE OF US ARE DRINKING EVER AGAIN!"

They soon wandered the hallways a bit before seeing a certain boy standing outside the "Teacher's Lounge".

"Billy?" Cherry blinked.

Just then, Freddy came back inside. "Real nice; let the crippled kid do the dirty work," he remarked.

"I'm a better look-out." said Billy as he took a trenchcoat from Freddy.

"And I'm not?" asked Freddy.

"Your face gives off strong vibes of someone who's hatching schemes." Billy replied.

The trio gave Billy and Freddy a look.

"Don't look at us like that," Freddy told them. "And don't tell anyone what you saw."

The trio just shrugged and found themselves following the two boys.

"M-My face?" Freddy asked. "This face?"

"Yeah!" Billy nodded.

"Okay." Freddy then said as they were about to pass by the school's security guard.

"What're you guys doing now?" Cherry groaned.

"Minding our own business." Freddy replied.

"You boys got a hall pass?" asked the guard.

"Oh, us?" asked Billy. "Yeah. Always!"

The guard pointed at Freddy. "You... You look like you're up to somethin'." he said.

Freddy pointed at himself. "Me? Up to something?" he asked. "No! Never! I'm not up to something."

"Our dad's picking us up," Billy covered up. "He, uh, he got held up at the... The business office."

"The business office, huh?" The guard scoffed. "Sure, kid. Look. Parents or guardians must appear physically to check out students."

"Gotcha. Okay, well, uh, you hear that, Dad?" Billy nodded before calling out at the end of the hallway as he walked off with the trenchcoat.

"Oh, I know where this is going." Thor said to himself.

"Shazam!" Billy exclaimed before he came back out in his new adult form in the coat. "Oh, hey, there, son! Oh, hey, there, other son that I also have that's related to that son I just passed in the hallway. I'm so sorry I'm late, I got held up at the business office. Doing all the work stuff," he then smiled innocently. "This is th-the security guard all the kids admire so much."

The guard smiled at that, feeling touched for a few seconds.

"Oh. That's the other one," Freddy clarified. "This one sucks."

The guard then suddenly frowned as Cherry couldn't help but chuckle.

"This is... That's not funny. I gotta talk to him about that," Billy smiled bashfully as he went to escort Freddy out of school. "I apologize. Anyway, this is me appearing physically to check my sons out of school. So, thank you so much for keeping them safe, Detective Moron."

The man looked on. "...It says ' _Moran_ '." he replied.


	4. Chapter 4

**_LATER, INSIDE A WAREHOUSE..._ **

Freddy was tossing schoolbooks, and Captain Thunder was blasting them to dust using his lightning powers.

"ALGEBRA!"

ZAP!

"SCIENCE!"

Z-ZAP!

"ENGLISH!"

Z-Z-ZAP! Cherry watched this, looking unimpressed.

"Hey, you want your schoolbooks to be scorched too?" Freddy asked her.

"This is dumb and dangerous," Cherry replied. "Stop it right now."

"Ah, you're just jealous you don't have a cool foster brother like I do," Freddy scoffed. "He's way cooler than Saiyaman and Superman."

"Quit picking on Saiyaman!" Cherry glared. "Or else I'll--"

"Cherry!" Thor shushed and grabbed the perky goth in his arms to calm her down. "Shh~... It's okay... It's okay."

"He's not worth it," Lionel advised. "...But I'll have mine zapped, please."

Next, Lionel was using a video camera as Freddy held up a sign: **_WARNING! THE FOLLOWING FEATURES STUNTS PERFORMED BY A SUPERHERO (UNDER SUPERVISION OF HIS MANAGER). DON'T TRY AT HOME LIKE AN IDIOT._** First up was the Super-Strength Test. Captain Thunder wound up his arm, and punched through a stone pillar. Then, he flicked an entire barrel into a nearby wall. Then, the Flight Test. Captain Thunder tried to fly into the air by running down a skateboard ramp and into the air, but he only got a few feet up before he fell down.

"Well, at least he got some distance." Thor noted.

Cherry soon whacked at Billy with a baseball bat which only seemed to make his lightning bolt insignia flicker, but not much of anything else. Thor then handed Billy an axe and turned away nervously. Billy grabbed the axe and soon slammed it down on his wrist, but the axe was cut in half and not Billy's hand as he laughed at the victory.

"Now what's next?" Freddy asked.

"Laser Eyes." Cherry replied.

"Aw, yeah, this'll be sweet." Freddy chuckled.

Billy soon stared at an oil drum for a good few moments before suddenly, lightning shot out and hit it, much to his surprise and amazement.

"Lightning Vision! Even BETTER!" Lionel noted.

Billy then got into a cardboard box, which Freddy drizzled with gasoline. He then struck a match and lit the box ablaze. After a few minutes, Billy burst out and charged after Freddy, who turned and ran.

"Well, at least he's fire-proof." Cherry replied.

* * *

Soon after, Freddy was uploading the testing videos on YouTube, and they were getting massive views.

"More powerful than a locomotive." Freddy remarked.

"Locomo...?" Billy scoffed. "What are you? An old prospector?"

Freddy laughed a bit before he continued to quote from Superman's personal taglines. "Can leap tall buildings in a single bound." he then said before looking behind him to see very tall buildings.

"Better than Saiyaman?" Cherry asked Freddy, a bit thickly.

"Maybe even those other kids like Bat-Mite, Lady Gothika, and Thunder Boy," Freddy scoffed. "Why should that 'Fool Force' get all the fun?"

The three soon looked a bit angered from Freddy's personal opinion on their superhero personas.

"What?" Freddy asked defensively. "You guys can't tell me that you actually like those guys."

"Yeah? What'd they ever do to _you_?" asked Lionel. "You're acting like they stole your lunch money!"

"Eh," Freddy shrugged. "I just don't see what makes those guys so cool or special. All they are just helper monkeys to the bigger and older heroes."

"Hey! Watch it!" Thor retorted. "That's no reason to talk crap about them! They've done plenty to qualify as heroes in their own right!"

"Weird thing to get defensive about," Freddy replied. "Anyway, back to Billy."

"That's it, I'm going back home," Cherry said as she walked off. "I don't care what punishment Drell gives me." Just then, a piece of paper fell into Cherry's jacket, and she pulled it out.

 **"Nice try, but until it's done, nobody goes back home,"** said the writing. **"I mean it, and if you DO, I take your powers away forever, and you go back to being a powerless schmuck. You _really_ wanna test me?"**

Thor and Lionel leaned over a bit.

"...He's bluffing, right?" Cherry asked.

"Sure... Just ask Uncle Skippy." Thor grinned with a bashful shrug.

Cherry gulped a bit as she balled up the paper. "So, who wants to help out Billy with his superpowers?" she then asked as her voice cracked from nervousness and pressure as she began to have sweat beading down her face.

"That's the spirit," Lionel replied. "True heroes never give up, even when the odds don't look good! Plus, the montage music is awesome."

"Yeah, I'll give it that." Cherry had to admit.

* * *

Billy soon tried to leap up at one building only to crash into one of the windows from way high up.

"At least he got some distance again." Thor smiled.

"There's no surprising you, is there?" Cherry smirked.

Thor looked confused with her.

"I'm so sorry! I'm sorry, people!" Billy said as people screamed from the crashing and his sudden appearance.

"Now what?" Cherry wondered.

"Anyone got a dead phone?" Freddy smirked as he had another idea.

* * *

**_LATER..._ **

Billy was zapping people's phones with lightning to recharge them as they walked through a mall. "Your phone's charged!" ZAP! "Your phone's charged!" BZZ-T! "Your phone's charged!" KZZT!

"You know what?" asked Freddy. "You really need a mic-drop catchphrase after you do something cool."

"Like a one-liner?" stated Lionel.

"I've been thinkin' about that," Billy told Freddy. "What about, what about this: 'that's why you don't mess with electricity'."

Freddy gave him a deadpan glance. "...Obviously catchphrases aren't one of your superpowers."

"And YOUR phone's charged!" Billy zapped another phone, which burst several seconds later. "You think you could do any better?" he asked.

The man's phone suddenly shocked and hit the floor.

"What the hell?!" The man complained.

"How about... 'Holy, Zapping, Shazam!'?" Thor suggested.

"Wow, that was as awkward and cringey as Atticus's attempts at a catchphrase." Cherry muttered thickly.

"That sounded better in my head," Thor groaned as he rubbed his head. "Uh... How about 'Don't get me angry, you get zapped when I get angry'?" he then suggested, looking a bit dark and gravely serious.

"Nah, some other guy already has that," Lionel replied. "Maybe 'Time for a zap attack'!"

"Maybe..." Billy nodded at Lionel. "That's a decent one."

They soon came to a Dr. Pepper vending machine as Billy tried out a new catchphrase as they stood in front of the machine.

"Uh, let there be light?" Cherry shrugged.

"Time for a zap attack!" Billy smirked as he soon shot lightning at the vending machine.

The vending machine creaked a bit and soon several soda cans shot out and Billy began to drink up before his eyes widened and he rushed into the nearest bathroom.

"How do I--? Never mind. Shazam!" Billy's voice asked from inside before he changed so that he could do his business.

A man soon ran out of the bathroom, looking scared as he passed by Freddy, Cherry, Lionel, and Thor.

"Shazam!" Billy then called out again.

* * *

_**SHORTLY AFTERWARDS...** _

Freddy and the others waited outside, while Billy went into an establishment called "The Booty Trap". A little while after, Billy came back outside with a plateful of chicken wings.

"What'd you see? What'd you see?" asked Freddy. "Were there boobies?"

Lionel snickered at that. Cherry groaned with her head buried her hands as she slowly shook her head.

"You see nipples?" Freddy continued. "Why aren't you talking?"

"We're gonna need more money." Billy replied as he ate a wing.

"Wow, you were in there for, like, five minutes." Freddy remarked.

"Dude, they were very convincing." Billy defended.

"Why?" Cherry groaned. "This has to be the most humiliating thing I've been dragged into."

"I dunno, I think it's pretty funny," Lionel replied. "Kids ARE pretty curious, and they sure as hell aren't gonna get a straight answer from parental figures."

* * *

Shortly afterwards, Billy zapped an ATM, which made money shoot out of the machine. After grabbing several handfuls worth of dollars, he and Freddy made a run for it. Eventually, they did something that even Cherry could agree on as she played Mortal Kombat with Freddy and Billy while Lionel and Thor watched and cheered for her to win.

"Sorry, Johnny Cage and Raiden, but Luna's gonna whoop your asses." Cherry narrowed her eyes as she played with super-sharp focus.

"No! Stop, no!" Freddy panicked as he was losing.

"I'm not even looking." Billy smirked.

"Stop. Stop!"

"I'm not even looking."

"Oh!"

"Oh, and done!" Billy smirked as he won, beating Freddy and Cherry. "Finished him!"

Cherry had a stoic stare at the screen before she suddenly lunged out and tackled Billy to the floor and began to beat him mercilessly with a pillow.

"Whoa! Chill out, girl!" Freddy called out to her.

"Hey! Hey! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Billy cried out. "Don't be a sore loser!"

"Cherry! No! He's not worth it!" Lionel called. "Serenity now! Serenity now! Um... Uh, if you get off, I'll buy you some Zebra Cakes! Two boxes of them!"

"Hmm..." Cherry paused suddenly.

"Three?" Lionel then asked.

"...Can I have chicken wings?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, the meat will fall off of the bone!" Lionel said.

Cherry then growled.

"Okay, boneless!" Lionel then said. "Boneless chicken and Zebra Cakes and anything else you want!"

"...Fine." Cherry then said as she got off of Billy.

Lionel sighed as he wiped his head. "I'll get you the wings."

"But a rematch will be due very soon." Cherry said to Freddy and Billy firmly.

"Whatever you say, girly girl." Freddy replied calmly.

Cherry rolled her eyes at that.

"So, what else does a superhero need?" Billy asked.

"How about a secret lair?" Thor suggested.

"How exactly would you two go about getting a secret lair?" asked Lionel.

"Simple," Freddy replied. "We go to Real Estate and ask for one."

Cherry, Lionel, and Thor sweat-dropped a bit.

* * *

They soon came to a Real Estate office and met a woman, telling her what they wanted.

"A lair?" The agent asked, a bit unimpressed.

"Yes. And obviously, we're gonna have to be making this purchase anonymously." Freddy nodded.

"Obviously." Billy added.

"And um, if you have a location, like, on a cliff, like a castle-esque type thing."

"Overlooking some water."

"Over some water, seas below it."

"Rough, you know."

"Like waterfall, so you can, like... Waterfall"

" Yeah, if you have water..."

"Yeah..." The agent slowly blinked as she faced Billy. "Look, Maximum... Voltage, is it?"

"I thought we decided it would be Captain Thunder," Lionel whispered. "The heck?"

"It is," Billy replied. "It's Captain Thunder."

"Um... Right..." The agent shrugged. "Well, Mr. Thunder, Why don't you just start with how many bedrooms you're looking for?"

"One./Seven." Billy and Freddy said before facing each other.

"One?" Freddy asked Billy.

"Seven?" Billy scoffed. "What? Am I runnin' a foster home now?"

The agent shrugged at that and closed up her booklets.

"Yeah, I don't think she can help you find a secret lair." Cherry said to Freddy and Billy.

Thor then took out a random Duel Monsters trading card to use as a calling card as he slid it across the woman's desk. "We'll be in touch." he then said to her.

Lionel rolled his eyes as he and the others exited the room.

"Maybe we could make them a secret lair?" Thor offered to Cherry and Lionel.

"I dunno," Cherry shrugged. "I suppose that would be harmless."

"Yeah, it could be like a clubhouse like where Lionel used to live!" Thor smiled.

"We'll get to that bridge when we cross it." Lionel replied.

* * *

The next day, Freddy and the others were strolling through school as the other students were watching the videos of Captain Thunder's power tests.

"See the one where he throws the football into space?" A girl smiled at her other friends as she watched one of the videos on her phone. "So dope."

"Hey, you know, you guys gotta wonder who's filming those, right?" Freddy spoke up, trying to get some attention. "I mean, that's bravery in and of itself."

"I mean, is it though?" Billy asked, unimpressed with his foster brother.

"Yeah. I'd actually argue maybe even more brave." Freddy shrugged.

"Holding a camera?" Thor asked with a smirk.

"Staring in the face of danger." Freddy defended.

"Like some weirdo fanboy." Cherry retorted.

Just then, one of the boys, Burke Breyer, from the other day grabbed Freddy by the lapel.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Freddy advised.

"What, is your bestie gonna hit us with a wheelchair this time?" asked Brett.

"No, maybe not him," replied Freddy. "But I have another best friend, who might hunt you down and destroy both of you."

"Okay, Freddy..." Cherry advised.

"You may have heard of him; uh, The Human Powerstorm, Frequency Flinger, Sir-Zaps-A-Lot..." Freddy then said. "Yeah, he's a man of many names."

"You know The Red Cyclone? _You_?" asked Brett, who scoffed. "My ASS, you do."

"Oh, we're a lot closer than you think," remarked Freddy. "Maybe even at this very moment."

"Prove it." Burke snapped.

"I will tomorrow," Freddy soon said. "Tomorrow he's gonna come to lunch and... R-Right, Billy?"

Thor shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, yeah, and then Superman's and The Toon Force 5 are gonna be bringing us dessert, right?" Burke scoffed.

"Tomorrow, at lunch," Freddy insisted. "You'll see."

"And when he doesn't show, then we'll kick your ass." Brett sneered.

The group soon walked away from the bullies.

"So wait, my identity's a secret so no one I know can get hurt. Except when it makes you look cool, then then it's all good." Billy pouted at Freddy.

"Billy, it's not like they're supervillains; they're just super douchebags." Freddy shrugged.

"That's the first thing you've ever said that's made sense to me." Cherry said to him.

Billy scoffed. "So you're breaking your own rules?" he rolled his eyes. "...Got it."

Freddy backpedaled. "This thing is as much as mine as it is yours." he stated.

"I'm starting to think you think it's all your thing," Billy replied as he left for his math class.

"Billy, you're still gonna do it, though, right?" called Freddy. "I mean, what would a good brother do?"

Lionel shook his head.

"He hates me." Freddy said softly.

"Probably." Cherry replied.

"Hmm..." Freddy pouted at her for that.

* * *

Later on, the trio went to the library to keep themselves busy until suddenly, everyone around them began to slow down and suddenly stop in place except for the three of them.

"Huh? What?" Cherry asked.

"Hey, kids, I thought I'd see how you were doing," Drell said as he came into the library via a magical door that appeared from nowhere. "That Freddy kid is a hard case, huh?"

"That's putting it lightly," Cherry replied. "The kid has some sort of bias against The Toon Force."

"Interesting..." Drell said. "Well, I'm not letting you go home just cuz some kid is making you feel bad about yourself."

"I guess I'll get over it," Cherry shrugged. "What brings you here anyway?"

"I just thought I'd come and check on your progress," Drell shrugged. "Do you have any questions?"

"Uh, yeah, do you happen to know where Billy's mother is?" Thor asked.

"Ooh, I don't think I can tell you that~" Drell replied mysteriously. "Especially about Dr. Sivana."

"Dr. Sivana?" asked the group.

"Oh, yeah; this bad guy who wants to claim the powers of the wizard," Drell explained. "He's mad cuz the wizard considered him unworthy."

"This would've been nice to know as soon as you took us away from home!" Cherry glared.

"I wanted to wait," Drell replied. "I'd be on the lookout for him."

"Gee, thanks." Cherry grumbled.

"Don't take that tone with me," Drell warned her, making her look up at him nervously. "I don't know if he'll hurt you guys, but he'll be a great threat towards Billy later on once he adjusts and adapts to becoming... Uh... What name did he give himself?" he then asked.

"We were thinking of Captain Thunder." Thor replied.

"Then Captain Thunder will have to watch out for this Dr. Sivana and so will you." Drell advised.

"Consider our eyes wide open." Lionel nodded.

"Yeah... He's got special plans..." Drell nodded. "That may or may not include Billy's mother."

"What about Billy's new brothers and sisters?" Thor spoke up.

"They could be a target as well, but I can't tell you too much," Drell replied. "It wouldn't surprise me though."

"Well, we'll do our best to look out for the guy," Lionel stated. "But I think there might be a rift forming between Billy and Freddy."

"I've sensed it too," Drell replied. "Aside from his Toon Force bashing."

"I know, don't let people's personal opinions get to you, but that kid was driving me crazy, especially when he insulted Saiyaman." Cherry remarked.

"So you do care about him," Drell smirked. "You two are like brother and sister."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I guess I better get back home," Drell said, about to go through the door. "If there's nothing else to discuss."

"I guess not," Cherry replied. "So yeah, you can go now."

"Alrighty then, keep in touch." Drell waved as he turned and went through the door.

As soon as the door closed, time restored back to normal and everyone and everything began to move again at a normal pace as though nothing had even happened.

"So, what do you guys think about having dinner with Billy and his family?" Thor suggested.

"I dunno," Cherry shrugged. "It might be too crowded."

"Yeah, but it might be wise to keep an eye on him since Uncle warned us." Thor explained.

"It would be a good way to see if things are at least under control," Lionel replied. "Guess WE'RE coming to dinner, then!"

"All right, we'll see what they say then." Cherry nodded before she took out a book.

The librarian walked by, glancing at them strangley. Cherry and the boys hummed and whistled innocently as they acted like they were studying and blended in as regular students. The librarian then shrugged and went back to stocking books on the shelves.

"All right, we'll find Billy or Freddy after school and ask to stay for dinner." Cherry said to Lionel and Thor to make it official.

Lionel and Thor nodded.

* * *

**_AND SO, A WHILE LATER..._ **

Cherry, Thor, and Lionel found themselves at dinner with the Vasquez family that evening.

"All hands on deck!" Mr. Vasquez said, and everyone put their hands in the middle. "Thank you for this family, thank you for this day; thank you for this food. Sorry Billy's hand's on vacay." After this prayer, everyone sat back down. "Big news in Philly: they found a costumed hero. He's doing good."

Lionel smiled as he tucked into his food.

"Yeah, but _is_ he, though?" asked Eugene. Billy glanced over at the bespectacled boy.

"Oooh, controversy!" Mr. Vasquez exclaimed. "Into it. Share with us your perspective, Eugene."

Eugene continued. "Just saying, he's what? Charging people's phones? So what? I can charge a phone, with a plug." he stated.

"Preach." nodded Mr. V.

"Well, maybe he's charging them instantaneously," Lionel shrugged. "Not everyone has time to wait for their phones to charge."

"Solid counter, Lionel," Victor nodded. "Pedro, any thoughts?"

Pedro shrugged. "...Costume's stupid?"

That got a couple of laughs from the others.

"Big white cape like, he's getting married or something." Pedro continued.

Billy looked a bit miffed. "What if he didn't get to pick his costume?" he replied, a bit quietly. "Ever think about that?"

"...This is such a lovely dinner." Thor spoke up awkwardly.

Everyone soon gave him a look.

"You're a specialist, Freddy," Mrs. Vasquez soon remarked. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, Freddy, let's manage to see the positive." Billy added a bit hotly.

"Okay, well, I think it looks like he doesn't have gratitude for what he's been given." Freddy soon explained as Eugene took a sip of his drink.

"Very specific. All right." Mr. Vasquez nodded as Darla began to eat her food, rather quickly which concerned Cherry a bit.

"Maybe to this superhero, gratitude doesn't mean having to be clingy." Billy then retorted.

"'Clingy', wow, interesting take." Freddy scoffed.

"You know, maybe sometimes a superhero just wants a little me-time." Billy suggested as the dinner table got a little quiet and awkward as the others shared looks with each other.

"You know, me-time can also be construed as pushing away his family." Freddy advised.

"Family. Is that what they are now?"

"It's a classic symptom of superhero syndrome coined by German psychologist Heinrich de Von... German something, where superpowers become an all-consuming narcotic."

Billy soon looked fed up and suddenly stormed off away from the table.

"Son, we're still eating dinner?" Mr. Vasquez reminded Billy.

"What he needs is a sidekick!" Freddy told Billy.

"Name one cool sidekick!" Billy retorted as he stormed off up the stairs.

It was then quiet for a few moments as everyone else remained at the table.

"Hey, uh, you okay, kiddo?" Cherry asked Darla. "You're never this quiet in school."

"I'm eating." Darla muffled as she shrugged her shoulders.

The rest of dinner was relatively quiet, but otherwise plenty awkward after that.

"Thanks for the dinner, but we should probably head back home now." Thor smiled.

"Of course," Mrs. Vasquez nodded. "Feel free to come back anytime."

"We just might take you up on that offer." Cherry said before they decided to get back "home".

"You have a pleasant night," Lionel waved to them as they left. "...Good God, that was tense!"

"That tension was so thick, I could braid Cherry's hair with it." Thor added.

"I was never this bad during my phase before therapy, was I?" Cherry asked weakly.

"Oh, probably not that bad," Thor replied. "You were a bit sour and bitter, but probably not as bad or tense as that."

Cherry let out a small sigh. "Maybe it'll be better at school tomorrow." she then said hopefully.

"Boy, I sure hope so." Lionel replied as he and the others went off to find somewhere to crash for the night.

Thor got a message on his Spell Phone and grinned a bit at the message alert.

"...What?" Cherry and Lionel asked.

* * *

The trio soon came into a hotel suite that was paid for and given to them from Drell with two beds, though they were currently pushed together with a fully stocked fridge with a TV and an office desk with a swivel chair with a plug for a laptop computer.

"Well, I guess this is the honeymoon suite." Thor chuckled at Lionel and Cherry before he found a note left behind.

" ** _'Enjoy the room, I hope it's to your liking'_** ," Cherry read aloud from the note. "Heh. Glad to see that he cares about us."

"Bonza!" Lionel exclaimed. "It _is_ very pleasant..."

"So, are we gonna go straight to bed or maybe order a pizza?" Thor asked hopefully.

"We just ate dinner!" Cherry reminded him.

"Well, yeah, but that was an hour ago." Thor shrugged.

Cherry rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "You order your pizza, I'm gonna take a bubble bath." she then said as she went off to the bathroom.

"And I'll man the telly!" Lionel called as he changed into some pajamas and climbed onto the bed, remote in hand.

Thor laughed as he soon jumped onto the bed, nearly bouncing Lionel off as he decided to order some pizza.

"Men." Cherry sighed playfully as she shut the bathroom door to take her bath.

As the trio settled in for the night, things would get pretty tense the next day.

* * *

**_AT SCHOOL..._ **

Billy and Freddy were headed up the stairs with their friends, when Billy suddenly stopped. "Why am I still doing this?" he asked.

"Billy, you can't skip every day," said Freddy.

"Not at YOUR age," Billy retorted. "But I'm not your age anymore." With that, he turned and walked down the stairs.

"But I can go with you, we just gotta trick the guard out, you know, and then..." Freddy started. "Billy, where are you going? You're still gonna have lunch with me, right?"

"I don't think he's gonna have lunch with you," Cherry stated.

"You don't know that," Freddy replied. "...He'll be back, any minute now."

"I wouldn't hold my breath." Cherry retorted.

The bell soon rang as everyone went to class.

"I feel like one of us should follow Billy." Cherry said to Lionel and Thor.

"Alright, I guess I'll go after him," Lionel shrugged. "Beats hanging around here for most of the day."

"Just make sure no one sees you like a truant officer." Cherry suggested.

"Do those even exist anymore?" Thor asked.

"Meh," Cherry shrugged. "Just watch out, Lionel. Not that I doubt you won't blow it or anything."

"You got it!" Lionel replied, as he ducked behind a tree, turned into a bird, and flew off.

Billy was soon back in his Captain Thunder form and was taking a picture with a young woman who seemed to be one of his many newfound fans.

"All right! Did you check it?" Billy beamed as the man who took the picture smiled and walked off with the woman. "People typically, like, give me a little money, you know, to... You're a sweet couple, you guys have a good day." he then said to them, about to go off until he saw something happening across the street.

A girl was shown to be crossing the street, completely unaware that a truck was zooming down the street, about to hit her.

Billy then thought quickly with his new powers and dashed over, saving the girl instantly until he then realized who she was. "Oh, my God. Mary... Mary, are you okay?" he then asked out of concern.

"...How do you know my name?" Mary asked out of confusion.

"Uh, how do I know your name, uh... Uh, one of my superpowers is name-guessing," Billy quickly covered up as Lionel watched this from a tree. "Which is really weird, I bet. Uh, it's not as cool as super strength or super speed but it's really helpful when I meet new people. Are you hurt? No, I'm... I'm okay. Thank you, um... I just need a second to think. This has been such a weird day. Um, using my powers of super observation, I see that you're holding a letter from a college in your hand. Are you upset because you didn't get in?" he then guessed and asked.

Mary paused before shaking her head and suddenly nodding as she looked upset. "I got in." she then told the "stranger".

Lionel landed nearby to listen as Billy sat with Mary on a sidewalk.

"Uh... well, now my superpowers are failing me, and I'm very confused." said Billy.

Mary sighed. "Yeah, me too; I don't know. I know I should be excited 'cuz this is my dream, and I worked really, really hard for this," she replied. "But it's like... I don't know, leaving my family does not feel fun, you know?"

Lionel sighed. "Kinda reminds me of Cherry..." he muttered.

"C-C-Can I-I-I give you a little piece of advice?" asked Billy. "Don't be worried about everybody else. Always look out for number one. Gandhi said that."

"I don't think he said that." replied Mary.

"Yeah, he did."

"Gandhi did not say that."

Lionel snorted. "Maybe Clone High's version..."

"Somebody like Gandhi said that." Billy continued.

"Take care of number one?" Mary then asked.

"It was a really wi--" Billy started. "It might have been Yoda."

"Listen--" Billy began.

"I'm sorry, no." Mary shook her head.

"Agree to disagree," Billy interjected. "The point is... You do you, you know? You gotta look out for you. And get as far away from this place as you can." he then advised.

"I don't know if I want to." Mary said in a broken voice then.

"Of course, you do. What are you gonna do?" Billy replied. "You're gonna live in a group home for the rest of your life?"

Mary gave him a strange look off that reply.

"Look, families are for people who can't take care of themselves," Billy continued. "Okay? So. And you know, y-you can take care of yourself, you know. Also, look both ways when you cross the street." he then advised before he decided to leave her alone.

"Smooth move, Captain Thunder." Lionel snarked to himself.

"Lionel?" Billy blinked as he looked around, feeling he heard a familiar voice. "Is that you?"

"Yep, yep, yep," Lionel replied as he walked over in his human form. "I figured I should keep an eye on you and see how you were doing. Don't worry, I came of my own accord."

"Oh... Well, okay," Billy replied. "I was just about to make some sweet money. You wanna come with?"

"Sure, why not?" Lionel shrugged. "Could be fun to watch."

"Heh. Now you're talkin'." Billy chuckled in excitement.

* * *

Back at school, it was time for Freddy to live up to his promise.

"All right, Freddy, you made your bed, now lie in it." Cherry smirked as she stood with the students in the cafeteria, anticipating for something to happen.

"Yeah!" The others added as they waited for someone to come into the cafeteria like he had bragged about.

"I'll just call him. It's ringing," Freddy said nervously as he made a call on his phone. "Red Cyclone! Hey! Hey, what's goin' on? Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, it's Freddy, by the way. Yeah, it's crazy. That is... Great story."

The girl closest next to Freddy soon took his phone and smirked at the other students. "He's not talking." she then told the others. The other students soon erupted into laughter and they soon walked off together, leaving Freddy alone in shame.

"I was! I was! We're friends!" Freddy defended and pled to them. "I know him. I do. I know... I know..."

"Ooh, sweet honey roasted karma," Cherry whispered into Freddy's ear with a demented smirk. "It tastes almost as good as the filthy, rotten stench of failure~"

The last two people left standing as the crowd dispersed were Burke and Brett; they had both witnessed Freddy not being able to make good on his promise, so they were ready to make with _their_ end of the deal.

Freddy's face fell. "...Shit." he gulped.

Cherry didn't bother to get involved as the boys came over to Freddy and got busy on personally teaching him a lesson for lying.

"Don't you think you were too rough on Freddy?" Thor asked Cherry.

"Hey, this is karmic retribution," Cherry shrugged. "The kid brought it out on himself."

Thor shrugged with a small pout at her behavior.


	5. Chapter 5

Later, in the streets of Philadelphia, Billy was busy wowing the crowd with his lightning blast powers while Lionel sat by and watched. Surprisingly, Billy had made a decent amount of money from excited passersby who were enthralled by such a sight.

"Come on, now," Billy smiled at the crowd and soon shot lightning from his hands to the beat of the song "Eye of the Tiger". "Hands. Lightning with my hands. Lightning with my hands. Lightning with my hands~"

Freddy soon limped over and kicked the boombox aside as people gathered around to film Billy on their phones.

"Hey! Hey! Hey, young man!" Billy called out to him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm in the middle of a show right now. How can I help you?" he then asked with a scoff.

"I just wanna say thank you for showing up to lunch today." Freddy explained with disdain in his voice.

"Oh, yeah! I... I didn't wanna come to that, you wanted me to come to-" Billy was about to retort.

"Yeah, I got a little something called a suitcase wedgie, right?" Freddy continued to rant. "I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's when someone grabs your underwear like that and hold you like a suitcase, walks you down the hallway," he then added before taking out his underwear that had been ripped off of him before he tossed it aside. "And this was my underwear."

"Gross." Billy grimaced.

"You said you'd come." Freddy glared.

" _You_ said I will come, I never said I was..." Billy glared ack. "I'm a superhero, dude." he then smirked as he flexed his arms.

"Well, you're acting real heroic. How much are people paying you today?" Freddy asked with a scoff before seeing Lionel. "And what's this? Leon's your new best friend or something?"

"I'm supervising him, thank you," Lionel stated calmly. "Somebody has to since you were stuck in school for the day."

"Listen, I have serious responsibilities now, okay?" Billy told Freddy. "But that's cool because I can carry that burden with my..." he started shooting lightning again. " Hands! Lightning with my hands!~ "

Unfortunately, one of the stray bolts zapped one of the tires on a city bus, causing it to careen out of control and crash, dangling precariously over the edge.

"That... Doesn't look good, to say the least," Lionel remarked. "You'd best do something."

"All right... It's hero time." Billy remarked.

Cherry and Thor shrugged at that as they came by.

Billy then dashed off to see what he could to save the bus before the situation would become gravely messy. "Holy moley." he then muttered once he saw the bus from where he stood after running off with super speed.

"Don't move!" The bus driver warned his passengers. "Nobody move!"

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. Stay, stay. Stay. Stay. Stay. Oh." Billy panicked.

The bus was closer and closer to sliding out the edge and one guy let go of the pole and suddenly whacked against the front windshield, leaving a crack in the glass.

"Oh, that looked like it hurts." Billy winced for the poor guy.

"Looks like it's time for someone to-" Atticus began as he suddenly poofed into the scene.

"No," Cherry said darkly as she narrowed her eyes and looked like she wanted him dead. "You're not IN this story."

Atticus's eyes widened before he suddenly poofed away again.

"It's him!" said a woman. "It's the superhero guy!"

Lionel discreetly used his powers to conjure up some old mattresses for Billy to find so they could put them directly under the bus windshield for the people to jump to safety. The windshield was shattering quickly as the people looked relieved at the sight of Billy.

"Save us!" A man panicked.

"Come on. Come-" Billy panicked before he saw the mattresses and soon took them to move them around in place.

"What's he doing? What's going on? What?" The civilians panicked before yelping as some went flying to the windshield, making the crack bigger and the bus was closer to falling from the edge.

"Oh, no. Oh, no, no. Please don't make me do this," Billy began to panic. "That is the worst idea ever!"

The bus soon shot down very quickly, coming off of the edge and soon colliding with Billy.

The boy then opened his eyes to see that he'd actually caught the bus! "Oho! Oh, I did it! I did it!" he gushed. "I got the bus! I got the bus!"

"Great work, kid!" Lionel called. "Now just place it down gently!"

Before Billy was about to put the bus down, he spotted a dog sitting nearby. "No, no, no, doggie, doggie, you have to move. Move!" he begged.

The dog simply stared at him before slowly walking away.

"Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," Billy said in relief before he soon backed up a bit to set the bus down back on the ground. "Yeah. Yeah."

The bus was soon slammed right down on the ground and soon, the doors opened and the people began to file on out.

"I was in the neighborhood, you know, so I thought-" Billy smiled, trying to sound cool and confident.

"Thank you, thank you." A couple of women smiled thankfully.

"You know, it's kinda my fault, anyway." Billy spoke innocently to the saved civilians.

* * *

An ambulance soon drove by to take some people away who were hurt, but otherwise, it was a good day for those people.

"So, it seems Philadelphia has gotten an early Christmas present in the form of its very own superhero," A newswoman reported as she was being filmed before her story ended. "And we're out."

"Hey, thank you very much." The cameraman said before he left with the newswoman.

"Oh, of course, yeah." Billy nodded.

Cherry, Freddy, Thor, and Lionel soon came by.

"Guys! Guys, guys, guys, did you see that?" Billy gushed in excitement once he saw them.

"Yeah, you electrocuted a bus and almost killed these people." Freddy scoffed.

"And then I caught it!" Billy replied as he sounded as excited as a child on Christmas morning. "Freddy! I caught a bus with my bare hands, man! I caught a bus like people catch fly balls, like... Who does that?"

"You remind me of bit of a very young Atticus Fudo." Cherry smirked in a Slappy Squirrel voice.

"I gotta admit, that _was_ pretty cool," acknowledged Lionel. "Next time, don't cut it so close, alright?"

"Billy, you do nothing!" Freddy retorted. "You take selfies and make people pay you! You know what? Forget it... I can't really talk to you when you look like this."

Billy glared. "You just wish it was you."

Freddy turned back. "No shit! You think?" he asked. "I would KILL to have what you have! Cuz everything I do is like some desperate attempt to get people to notice me, to not feel sorry for me! I mean, look at me. Look at me! Do you even see me?! Cuz most people DON'T! ...Cuz they don't want to. And now you don't, either. I mean, you think this is who you are? Billy, you're 14! And now you're no better than the Breyers! All this power and all you did was turn into a show-off and a bully."

"Well, at least he's not using his brother just to be popular." Cherry narrowed her eyes at Freddy.

"Who asked _you_?" Freddy retorted.

Billy snorted. "Whatever, kid! I do what I want! ...And I'm like, mid-20's, probably!" he shouted.

"Don't fight." Thor frowned, though it seemed to be too late for that plea.

A mysterious man soon hovered down which startled some people in the background.

"Maybe even, like, 30." Billy then shrugged as the man touched the ground.

The man soon began to approach Billy, sounding cold and stoic in his tone of voice. "Chosen One. The so-called perfect man," he said as he circled and examined Billy. "Pure of heart. Flawless in every way. What made you so worthy?"

"I'm sorry, can I help... Can I help...?" Billy asked, stammering slightly as he didn't recognize or know this man before he had an idea of what was going on. "D'you want an autograph or somethin'?" he then asked.

"Give me your power... Or die." The man demanded as he removed his sunglasses and one of his eyes seemed to be a glowing blue, almost like a gem.

"Guys, call it a hunch, but I think we've met our villain." Cherry whispered to Lionel and Thor.

"Dr. Sivana, I presume?" Lionel remarked.

"Oh, snap!" Billy put 2 and 2 together. "You're like a bad guy, right? Okay, okay, okay, okay...look, before this gets really stupid for you, you should know that I'm basically invincible-" but he was instantly cut off by a fierce blow to the gut that made him double over, then he uppercut him right into a police car.

"Alright, we are gonna be in for a ROUGH time." Lionel sighed.

"I see you have heard of me." Dr. Sivana smirked at Cherry, Lionel, and Thor.

"Yes, we have, and we're gonna help kick your butt." Cherry glared.

"How amusing," Dr. Sivana chuckled. "I'd love to see how you plan on doing that."

Two cops tried to rush him, but Dr. Sivana simply put out a hand, and electrocuted them away. "The weapons of man draw no blood from our kind," he explained. "The only thing that extinguishes magic... Is magic."

"Magic, huh?" asked Lionel. "Looks like it's our time to shine."

"Aw, yeah~" Thor smirked eagerly.

"Time to transfer your power to me." Dr. Sivana firmly told Billy.

Billy soon suddenly shot his fist right against Dr. Sivana's lower thigh which sounded pretty painful at first. "Oho, you did not see that one coming, did you, Grandpa?" he then smirked as he looked successful. "Them's street rules!"

Dr. Sivana narrowed his eyes sharply as he grabbed Billy's fist that was about to hit him in the face and soon grabbed Billy by the shoulder with his other hand and the two soon shot straight up in the air as a storm cloud suddenly appeared over Cherry, Lionel, and Thor and they were shot by a thunderbolt which transformed them into their Toon Force counterparts. Thunder Boy soon summoned a stormcloud before grabbing Lady Gothika and Bat-Mite, making them sit with him before he made the cloud hover in the air to go after Dr. Sivana and Billy. The people began to look panicked and concerned.

* * *

**_MEANWHILE, 2,000 FEET IN THE AIR..._ **

Dr. Sivana had flown Billy up to a massive height.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Billy panicked. "I never should've punched you in the nuts like that! That was totally my bad! We can talk about this!"

Sivana glowered. "You grovel like a child." he remarked.

"That's because I am one! I-I'm a kid!" Billy replied. "You don't wanna hurt a kid, do you?"

But the doctor had no such qualms as he punched Billy, sending him hurtling towards the ground.

"Kid!" Bat-Mite called. "You gotta fly outta this!"

"Fly?!" Billy asked.

"FLY, BILLY, _FLY_!" Lady Gothika urged.

"I believe I can fly! I believe I can fly! I can fly!" Billy panicked as he tried to make himself fly, though it seemed impossible. "Freddy said if I believe, I can fly! Then I can fly, so I believe! I believe, oh, please! Okay!" he then tried to pose like a certain Man of Steel for whenever he would fly. "Superman! Superman! What arm is it?! Why am I not flying?!" he then cried out as he passed the buildings and was dangerously close to hitting the pavement which would very likely kill him. "Please, I don't wanna die!"

"And who do we have here?" Dr. Sivana asked as he faced Lady Gothika, Thunder Boy, and Bat-Mite. "Some petty little mascots?"

"I'm your worst nightmare," Lady Gothika glowered. "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!"

"I don't have time to waste with you," The doctor scoffed. "I've got bigger scores to settle."

"Oh, sure, you can settle your scores," Thunder Boy said calmly before shooting a thunderbolt at him. "RIGHT AFTER YOU GET A TASTE OF THIS!"

Sivana just held out his hand and absorbed the electric energy into himself. "Thanks for the pick-me-up." he remarked.

"I'll give it a shot." Bat-Mite remarked as he wound up his fist and tried to hammer Sivana, who simply backhanded him into the distance.

"Sorry... I guess I didn't think that through... And he made me mad." Thunder Boy said, feeling like an idiot.

"That's okay, Thunder Boy." Lady Gothika reassured.

Billy was shown to not have fallen on the pavement and had survived after he found out that he really could fly only to suddenly get hit by a truck, but not die.

"BILLY!" Lady Gothika called out.

"And you, little lady, what do you have for me?" Dr. Sivana asked her fiendishly.

Lady Gothika glared before she soon brought out a whip and decided to lash it out at him and tie him up with it.

Sivana scoffed. "... _This_ is the best you have to offer?" he asked, before he broke free from the whip with ease and flew down after Billy, who was recovering from getting blindsided by a truck.

"Not your smartest move." Bat-Mite grunted as he reappeared next to his friends/lovers.

"He is not making this easy." Lady Gothika groaned.

"He's pretty tough," Thunder Boy added. "But we can't give up!"

"I'm floating!" Billy laughed happily as he floated freely in the air. "I can fly!"

Dr. Sivana soon suddenly flew quickly towards Billy and punched him, sending him flying further away and crashing into a building's window suddenly.

"...Billy?" Freddy asked in concern.

"Freddy!" Billy called out as he flew out to see him. "I need your help!"

Freddy was too dumbfounded to properly respond. "...You can fly?"

Dr. Sivana soon came back to continue beating down on Billy in a classic superhero vs supervillain fashion.

"Who's the other guy?!" Freddy soon called out to his foster brother.

"Let's go help the guy out." Bat-Mite replied as he teleported after the two combatants, who suddenly popped up inside of a mall, with Captain Thunder landing inside of a dressing room.

"I'm just gonna chill in here for a little while, if that's okay..." Billy grunted to the other two people inside the room.

The both of them looked at each other as Billy closed the door and got to his feet.

"This is crazy! This is crazy..." Billy muttered. "You don't have to fight this guy! This isn't your job. You can run, right? Yes! You can run. Awesome!" But he was instantly silenced by Sivana, who burst into the dressing room and body-slammed Billy straight through the mirror, breaking the wall into a toy store.

"You got lucky this time, Doctor, but now you're about to get an apple a day!" Lady Gothika threatened.

"You make no sense, girl," Dr. Sivana mocked her. "You three are back for more, eh?"

"That was just a warm-up last time," Thunder Boy glowered. "When we're through with you, you're gonna be Dr. Goodbye!"

"Less talking, more fighting!" Bat-Mite replied as the three of them tried to cover Billy while he made a run for it.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._ **

"Santa!" A little girl beamed as we are shown a shopping Mall.

Santa smiled as he had the little girl sit on his lap.

"So, like, what you and Mrs. Claus do in the summertime?" The little girl soon asked.

"Well, in some ways, Santa's always here for you." Santa smiled warmly.

A man dressed like a Nutcracker soldier was about to take their picture until they all heard something. There was then some rumbling heard as Billy flew away as Dr. Sivana chased him right out of Santa's throne, scaring the jolly old fat man. Lady Gothika soon shot magical energy blasts at Dr. Sivana as she dashed after the villain. Bat-Mite pondered on his next move until he got an idea! Quickly waving his fingers over the toy aisles, he brought the toys to life and then had them all attack Sivana, swarming him long enough for Billy to scramble to his feet and make a break for it. Dr. Sivana glared as he began to fight the toys.

"What is this, Babes in Toyland?" Lady Gothika scoffed.

"Ooh! That's a good story!" Thunder Boy grinned.

"Not the time!" Lady Gothika glared before looking around. "Okay, I think Billy, or, uh, rather, Captain Thunder made it out."

"Well, I couldn't fight him directly," Bat-Mite replied. "And last I checked, you two weren't making much headway, so I had to do SOMETHING!"

"Thunder and Lightning magic is all I know." Thunder Boy pouted as he felt like he was in trouble.

"And he's feeding on that, so it's basically like giving him granola bars," Bat-Mite replied. "...Wait. What happens when you eat too MANY granola bars? Or too much of anything, for that matter?"

"Personally I get sluggish and slow down and wanna take a nap." Thunder Boy remarked.

"...Forget it," Bat-Mite rolled his eyes. "I was thinking we overload him and short circuit his powers, but you completely missed the point of my analogy."

"Ohh..." Thunder Boy frowned softly.

"I dunno if that'll keep him away forever, but it's the best we got." Lady Gothika agreed with Bat-Mite.

Just then, the group heard a bolt of lightning come crashing through the ceiling.

"Looks like Captain Thunder decided to change back," Bat-Mite replied. "Since Sivana doesn't know his mortal form, he should be able to hide as Billy Batson, which is our cue to exit."

"Should we change back too to be on the safe side?" Lady Gothika asked.

"There's using your noodle." Bat-Mite replied, and in a nod, he changed the trio back into their normal forms and ran off.

Cherry took out her phone to see she was getting a call and quickly answered it. "I'll call you back." she then said before hanging up and she kept on running with Lionel and Thor.

Billy looked around as he got away from Dr. Sivana and soon saw that he had other company.

"Billy, thank goodness you're not dead!" Thor smiled.

"Shh!" Billy shushed. "That bald guy could be looking for me."

"Relax, he's looking for Captain Thunder, not Billy Batson," Cherry told him. "And while he's busy looking, we can get you out of here."

"All right... And guys?" Billy said.

"Yeah?" Cherry and Lionel replied.

"Thanks." Billy said softly.

"...You're welcome." Cherry said with a visible smile for about three seconds before it went back to a stoic frown.

"...Did that just happen?" Billy asked.

"Don't get used to it." Cherry replied as she and the boys got Billy out of the mall.

"Believe me, I'm not." Billy told her.

* * *

They soon made it back over to the Vasquez home with the adults looking scared and worried to death.

"Oh, my God, are you okay?" Mrs. Vasquez asked Billy in concern and rushed over to him. "You okay?"

Billy just followed her, carefully walking among the icy road.

"What happened? Are you hurt? Come inside." Mrs. Vasquez told Billy as she went to bring him inside of the house.

"We need to have a talk," Mr. Vasquez added before looking at Cherry, Lionel, and Thor. "Please go home."

"Alright..." Lionel replied. "Good luck, Billy. I think you're gonna need it."

And so the trio decided to leave, especially since Billy was in for a heap of trouble now.

* * *

They soon went back to the hotel as Cherry took her call in the other room.

"Hey, Lionel, I'm really sorry I messed up," Thor said bashfully. "You must think I'm an idiot."

"No, I don't think you're an idiot," Lionel sighed. "Look, it's been a long day, so I'm kinda stressed out."

Thor nodded calmly and decided to go over to the couch and read one of Cherry's old books.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't know if you can come or not, it's up to Thor's uncle," Cherry said on the phone before pausing and sighed sharply. "Yes, I know you've wanted him to do something with you ever since we found out about your secret..." she then face-palmed and rolled her eyes. "Sure. I'll hold."

"Who is it?" Lionel asked, while channel-surfing.

"You remember that friend of mine who moved in after Sabrina went AWOL?" Cherry asked back.

Lionel stopped to think before nodding.

"It's her," Cherry replied before quoting. "Ya know... 'I'm Power Girl's niece'... 'I'm part werewolf'... 'Let me join you guys'. I guess she found out that we went on this adventure."

"Ohhhh. Good grief..." Lionel sighed. "Well, I suppose we could use the extra help..."

Cherry nodded as she waited for Cathleen to come back. "All right, Cath you're in," she then said. "Just get approval from Thor's uncle first."

Cathleen soon squealed on the other line and Cherry then hung up the phone.

"I'm so sorry." Cherry said to him.

"It's not your fault," Lionel replied. "Today has just been... VERY emotionally exhausting. I need a nap, and some food. I didn't get anything to eat while I was hanging around with Billy."

"Get some rest, Lionel," Cherry said. "We could all use some after dealing with that Dr. Psycho."

Thor decided to have some leftover pizza before holding out a couple of slices for Lionel.

"I think that's actually one of Wonder Woman's archenemies..." Lionel replied as he took some of the pizza slices. "...but why split hairs..."

Cherry just shrugged.

"Let's just relax for a while," Thor smiled. "It's been a long day for us all, so we should try to keep up our strength while we can."

Lionel and Cherry both agreed as they tucked into the food and afterwards took a nap.

Thor joined them in the food and soon decided to nap along with them.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...** _

"All right, maggot, listen up!" Drell glared as he turned his head and marched in front of Cathleen as she stood and acted like a training soldier in the army. "You may go on this mission since you chose to accept it, I'm well aware of your father's abilities which passed down onto you, but I need you to prove that you can be a responsible and mature young heroine! That means there will be no arguing, no boasting, no bragging, and absolutely NO mockery, especially of my favorite nephew and future niece or nephew-in-law! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Crystal, sir!" Cathleen replied as she saluted him.

"All right!" Drell glared as he got in her face. "But before you do that, I need to see what you're made of before this trial period! Then I will determine and decide if you're qualified to go on these missions and become a new member of The Toon Force or not and once I decide, that is final and there will be NO back sass or counter-arguments! NOW GET MOVING!" he then yelled, blowing her hair back a bit.

Cathleen soon took out her own superhero costume and began to run through a training course and would meet Cherry, Lionel, and Thor much later on.

* * *

Back with the trio, they continued to sleep soundly before they would see Billy/Captain Thunder and Freddy again. Little did they know, things had gotten pretty wild while they were asleep, though they were in spirit form while they were asleep so they could get a look at what was happening, but not directly interfere... Like astral projections.

"Huh? What's going on?" Cherry asked as she floated a bit. "Did I just die?"

"I don't think so, Cherry, I think it's some kind of magic." Thor replied as he floated beside her.

"We're astral projections following Billy," Lionel explained. "Looks like he's still going after his mother."

"Well, shall we go on then?" Cherry asked. "This is probably for the best."

"Sounds good to me," Thor replied. "Let's get going."

The three soon floated away from their respective bodies and went to go check on Billy.

"I feel so concerned for this kid sometimes." Cherry sighed to herself on the way.

"Yeah," Lionel agreed. "He CAN be good, he just chooses not to show it."

"He's had a rough life," Thor said softly. "We all have."

"Indeed..." Cherry nodded. "Though... Your home life seems nicer compared to ours?"

"My dad's being funny about all of us being together," Thor shrugged. "He doesn't talk to me as much as he used to."

"Well... If he has a problem, he can say it to our faces." Lionel replied firmly as they followed Billy across a bridge leading to an apartment complex.

Thor nodded, a bit firmly with his eyes narrowed and a pout on his face.

* * *

Billy soon made it inside and walked down the very long hallway with various, muffled, indistinct voices talking behind the doors as he made his way to a certain room. Room 707 was the boy's destination and he soon came in front of the door and his hand knocked on it.

"Just a second!" A woman's voice muffled from the other side.

Cherry, Lionel, and Thor soon watched this as Billy waited and after a few moments, a young, frantic looking woman got the door and found Billy there.

"Hey, look, I'm late for work already, all right?" The woman told Billy, sounding exhausted already. "We don't need any magazines or whatever."

"Oh, I'm not-" Billy tried to explain. "...You probably don't recognize me, but I found my way home. Mom. It's me." he then said softly as he held out a trinket in his hand that he knew that she would recognize.

"...Oh, God," The woman grew wide-eyed and startled. "...Is it? Um, hang on."

"Who's at the door?!" A man's voice demanded.

"It's um... It's no one, Travis." The woman called back to him softly.

Lionel, Cherry, and Thor all looked at each other, then back to the action. Billy went in for a hug, but the woman stopped him. She then stepped outside and closed the door.

"...That wasn't Dad, was it?" asked Billy. Marilyn shook her head.

"Listen, it's um..." she began. "It's really you, huh?"

"I didn't mean to run away," said Billy. "You know that, right? I let go, but it was by accident, I-"

"Yeah, I know, I know," replied Marilyn. "I saw you."

"...What?" asked Billy.

"I saw you after," replied Marilyn. "So, it was never your fault."

Cherry winced slightly for Billy.

"I was 17..." Marilyn explained to Billy emotionally as he just stood there and took in the depressing news. "And my dad, he kicked me out. And your dad just... Decided not to be a part of anything. And I was hurting and I was screwed up."

Billy looked at her sadly before the trio suddenly saw a burst of magic which showed them more of Billy's backstory of when he was younger with his estranged mother at a carnival during the wintertime.

* * *

"A carnival during the winter?" Thor asked, feeling confused.

Cherry and Lionel just shrugged at that as they watched what was going on as Marilyn appeared to be trying to pop some balloons while Billy sat on the counter in front of her.

"I wanted the tiger." Billy pouted.

"I know, I know, honey, but Mom's not exactly going pro here, okay?" Marilyn said as softly and patiently as possible.

_The next shot then showed Marilyn looking to her side in a crowd. "Billy?" she asked. "Billy? Billy! Jesus Christ, Billy, this isn't funny!" she grumbled, making her way through the crowd. She then saw her son in a police car, being comforted by two cops._

"But it was just... Once I saw you with the police, I realized that they could do a better job taking care of you than I ever will," Marilyn continued as she walked away in the flashback.

* * *

By the time it was over, Billy looked like he was ready to cry... And could you blame him? Cherry frowned softly as she put her hand over her heart as she seemed to glow briefly.

"You okay?" Lionel asked.

"Y-Yeah," Cherry replied. "I just felt something... Deep inside... Don't worry about it."

"Only if you're sure." Thor then said to her.

"I am." Cherry nodded calmly.

"But you're good, right?" Marilyn then smiled sadly at her estranged soon. "I mean you landed on your feet. 'Cuz, I mean, you look real good. It's just... Now is not a really good time for me, Billy."

Billy swallowed thickly, feeling a massive lump in his throat. "All I wanted to do was let you know I'm doing good, but... I have to get back to my real family, so..." he gave her the ball compass. "Here."

Marilyn looked down at the trinket. "What's this?" she asked.

"Marilyn! What's going on out there?" called Travis from inside.

"You might need it more than me." Billy said as he walked off.

"Poor kid." Lionel said, feeling bad.

Just then, Billy's phone rang. He picked it up and saw Freddy's number on it, then answered. "Freddy, you were right; sorry I yelled at you-" he began.

But the voice that answered wasn't Freddy. "Come home, Billy. Come home."

"Billy!" Freddy yelled. "Supervillain! Supervillain!" and then the line went dead.

Billy's sadness had evaporated. He knew what he had to do now. Making it to the roof of the apartments, he looked around, and then made a run for the edge. Leaping off the roof, he shouted the magic word: " **SHAZAM!** " And in a bolt of lightning, Billy Batson was once again the world's mightiest mortal, Captain Thunder, who took off into the sky to save his family.

"Oh, Billy!" Thor frowned before facing Cherry and Lionel. "We gotta do something, you guys!"

"We need to go find him." Lionel replied. "But firstly, we have to wake up so we can go after him for real!"

"Come on, let's go then!" Thor nodded.

"Follow me, I think I know where I'm going." Cherry said before she floated off.

* * *

The trio's bodies were unconscious and completely immobile before their spirits returned to their bodies and they suddenly looked wide-eyed and gasped after glowing for a brief moment.

"I'm not sure what exactly that power was, but we'll worry about that later," Cherry said. "We gotta help Captain Thunder."

"Right!" Lionel and Thor added.

"You're not alone, you guys, you're going to have some help." A voice soon said to them.

"Uncle, your voice has changed." Thor said as he looked around, scratching his head.

"It's not your uncle," Cathleen said as she suddenly came out of the hotel room's closet as she crossed her arms. "I'm helping out on this adventure. Drell said if I helped out and I did a decent job, I could become a new member of The Toon Force."

"Ohhhhh. I forgot about that," Lionel replied. "Anyways, let's go!"

Lionel shrank into his Bat-Mite form, Thor punched his fists together and became Thunder Boy, and Cherry used a spell to change into Lady Gothika. Cathleen then spun around like in a tornado swirl and soon wore her own superhero outfit which she had dubbed as Midnight Moon.

"All right, let's go then!" Lady Gothika said.

"You wanna ride my Cloud Car?" Thunder Boy asked Midnight Moon.

"No thanks," Midnight Moon smirked. "I can fly."

"Suit yourself." Thunder Boy shrugged and soon opened the window to jump out and he soon flew to the air and grabbed some clouds and turned them solid before making them into a car to let Lady Gothika ride with him and Bat-Mite too if he wanted.

Bat-Mite climbed on with them and rode in the cloud car with them as Midnight Moon flew at the side. Thunder Boy then slapped the back of his cloud car and flew off with them as they followed Billy.


	6. Chapter 6

"So, how's it going?" Midnight Moon asked.

"Oh, ya know," Lady Gothika replied. "Getting in touch with our powers... Using them responsibly... All that superhero junk."

"Are you really a superhero?" Midnight Moon asked. "Batman seems a bit dark and gritty."

"He doesn't do it for fame and glory, he does it because there are some criminals too dark and vile for normal police to handle," Lady Gothika defended. "And I, as his Baby Bat, and Bat-Mite as his devoted follower and member of The Bat Family, intend to keep that promise for him outside of Gotham City."

"Indubitably!" Bat-Mite agreed.

"Just so you know... I have powers like Superman and Supergirl," Midnight Moon then said. "I can be pretty protective of myself."

"Good to know," Lady Gothika replied. "Just don't show off."

"Like I'd do something like that," Midnight Moon said. "So, Drell said you had to help this Billy kid agaiinst... Someone? I forget his name."

"Dr. Sivana," Lady Gothika said. "He's a real creep."

"I don't think he's even human." Thunder Boy added.

"No, he is," Bat-Mite replied. "He merely possesses the powers of the 7 Deadly Sins."

"7 Deadly Sins?" Midnight Moon asked.

"Pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, and wrath," Lady Gothika listed. "Each one more deadly than the last... But we're all guilty of at least one... He is guilty of them all."

Midnight Moon then nodded as she followed them out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dr. Sivana was shown as he spotted a Christmas wreath on the door which had ornaments of the foster kids together with smiles on their faces as they were all one big happy family. He then helped himself inside and found the two adults and the other kids who began to look nervous and scared at the sight of him.

"Who are you?" Mrs. Vasquez asked nervously, but protectively. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Dr. Sivana smirked. "I want..."

Captain Thunder soon landed right in the snow outside the window.

"...That." Dr. Sivana soon concluded his demand.

"Whoa." Eugene whispered in awestruck.

"Kick his ass, Billy!" encouraged Pedro.

Dr. Sivana put out his hand, and from the smoke emerged the sin of Wrath in physical form. "Yes, Billy... By all means, try it." he smirked.

"Let them go and I'll come inside." declared Captain Thunder.

"Oh, first you come inside, then maybe I'll let them go." remarked Sivana, as Wrath roared and snarled in the family's faces.

Captain Thunder had no choice but to give in, and go inside.

"Hold up, you're not going in there alone." Midnight Moon said once she got ready with Thunder Boy, Bat-Mite, and Lady Gothika.

"Hey! It's The Toon Force!" Eugene called out.

"I hope that means he likes us." Lady Gothika commented.

Wrarth soon faded away instantly as the family resisted cowering once Captain Thunder made his way inside with The Toon Force.

"Good boy..." Dr. Sivana said before looking at the Toon Force. "And minions."

"Minions?" Midnight Moon asked before narrowing her eyes firmly. "DUDE..."

"Easy." Lady Gothika warned.

"'Cuz that's all you are, isn't it?" Dr. Sivana mocked Captain Thunder. "How old are you?"

"Basically, 15." Captain Thunder glared bravely.

Sivana nodded. "When I was a child, the old man told me I wasn't good enough," he explained. "And here you are, a coward. Run from me? And that wizard chooses you? You're not a hero. But I'm gonna give you the opportunity to be one," he remarked. "Give me the power of the champion."

"No, don't do it, Billy!" called Freddy.

"Give me the power and I'll let them go." Dr. Sivana replied.

"Yeah, right." Midnight Moon scoffed at herself.

"He's really not gonna give up the power, is he?" Thunder Boy remarked to himself.

Darla soon ran over to her foster brother, nearly crying.

"Darla, no." Mary warned and soon went over to hug her foster sister as she then hugged her superpowered foster brother.

"Don't, don't go, Billy!" Darla cried. "Don't go! Don't go, Billy!"

"No, no, I-I have to, I have to, it's... It's what a good brother would do, right?" Captain Thunder replied softly before he gave into Dr. Sivana's offer.

Darla frowned very sadly as the others watched Captain Thunder about to go.

"Thank you for trying, but I must take care of this myself." Captain Thunder told The Toon Force. Billy had no choice but to enter the doorway to the realm of the Wizard, and Sivana followed him after.

"I came all this way for nothing?" Midnight Moon complained.

"I'm not letting him do this." Lady Gothika said as she began to follow after Billy.

"This is between me and him, go back to wherever you came from." Dr. Sivana sharply told The Toon Force.

"No freakin' way!" Lady Gothika glowered.

"We gotta go after him!" Bat-Mite declared. "Now c'mon!"

The other foster kids glanced at each other, then back through the doorway. The Toon Force went after Billy, despite his and Dr. Sivana's protests. Billy soon cried out as he was thrown across the room and crashed against a throne in the room, surrounded by several others and the wizard Shazam's fallen staff who had given the boy the powers he was now blessed with.

* * *

"I dedicated my life to getting here. I scoured the Earth," Dr. Sivana firmly told Billy as he entered the lair and picked up the staff, looking very threatening and harmful. "No one believed me. No one helped. Not the wizard. Not my family. I only had myself."

Billy breathed heavily and hardly with a small frown. "...I get it. I get what that's like," he then said to the villain. "Feeling like you're all alone in the world."

"Stand." Dr. Sivana demanded.

"Feeling like there's that one thing, if you could just find it," Billy continued as he sat on his knees. "Then you'd finally be good enough--"

"Stand," Dr. Sivana repeated himself sharply and soon, Billy did what he was told as the villanous man held the staff firmly. "The champion's name. Say it."

At once, the Sins emerged from Sivana's body, surrounding the area.

"Look, no offense, Mister, but I don't think these things have your best interest at heart." said Billy.

"Don't listen to this child." hissed one of them.

Another nudged Billy. "Take the staff; hold it and say the champion's name."

Billy glanced at Sivana. "They're using you. You have to see that. That they are using you!" he exclaimed.

"Say your name." Sivana glared before something hit him in the head... Freddy's Batarang!

"His name...is Captain Thunder." Freddy declared as he and his siblings, along with The Toon Force, stood fiercely.

"And we're gonna keep throwing things at your big, fat, ugly-eyed head until you let our brother go!" Darla added.

"Or else it won't be good for ya!" Midnight Moon glared as she stood with Thunder Boy, Lady Gothika, and Bat-Mite.

The Sins soon whooshed all around the room and approached Dr. Sivana as the bleeding scar on his bald head was shown as Billy winced at it until the Sins then made it vanish as if no harm had come to him. Midnight Moon glowered as her eyes nearly shined red like Superman's laser red eyes whenever he would use laser vision. Dr. Sivana soon went to boldy approach the intruders until Billy looked down and grabbed Freddy's Batarang, letting electricity shoot through it and he then stabbed the weapon right into the evil man's shoulder, electroctuing and stabbing the man instantly. He then used it to reach down and fling the man against the wall in an instant.

"Aww... I wanted to barbecue him!" Midnight Moon complained.

"No time!" Lady Gothika told her as they decided to get going.

"Aw, screw it." Midnight Moon shrugged and soon shot laser eyes right at Dr. Sivana anyway while he was still down.

"Boy, am I glad I didn't sell that Batarang," Billy said to himself before running with his foster brothers and sisters. "Pedro, is that a lamp? It's an ugly one."

"Come on, come on, come on...!" Thunder Boy called as he herded the others out.

"Guys, I appreciate the thought, I really do," said Billy. "But I don't think your weapons are gonna help! You can put 'em down now!"

Eugene glanced around. "...The door was right here!" he exclaimed.

"Billy, how do we get out of here?" asked Mary.

"What, you think I know?" exclaimed Billy. "I don't know!"

"Calm down, let's just try to think of a way out without freaking out." Lady Gothika advised calmly.

"This way!" Darla called out once she found a way out.

"Go, go, go, go, go with Darla!" Billy then said as they followed after the quirky young girl. "Good job, Darla! Go, go, go, go!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the Vasquez couple soon came home, though they seemed to be alone.

"Kids?" Rosa called out, then saw that a door was open and decided to close it. "Why is this open?"

Victor frowned as he came out to his wife while holding onto the kids' Christmas wreath.

* * *

Meanwhile, the group continued to follow Darla and they suddenly came to a stop.

"What's the hold-up?" Midnight Moon glared.

"...Th-That bridge looks kinda slim," Lady Gothika said while trying to sound brave and fearless. "We should find another way out."

"No, this is the only way." Darla insisted.

And so, the group headed across the bridge, and came to a hallway full of doors.

"So many doors..." Darla exclaimed.

"The question is, which one is the real deal!" Thunder Boy added.

Eugene opened one, and saw three crocodile-headed men in business suits playing poker. They turned and began snapping their jaws at him before he shut the door. "...Not that one."

Lady Gothika took some deep breaths in and then out once she got over her nauseousness.

"Come on, LG!" Thunder Boy called out to her before opening one door. "Maybe this is it."

However, that door had a big furry blue monster with purple spots and horns next to a tiny ball-shaped monster with one big eye who screamed at the kids and Thunder Boy screamed back before closing the door behind him and leaning against it.

"Do NOT go in there!" Thunder Boy then said nervously.

Pedro soon opened one door and found a foggy room that had some sort of blob hand come out before it roared at him and he slammed the door shut, squashing the blob in the process. Midnight Moon looked around and opened a door to a group of teenagers that looked like they were from 1969 and had a big dog with them as they all looked scared before she shut the door on them.

"...That was random." Lady Gothika said to Midnight Moon.

"Cartoons are random." Midnight Moon remarked.

"Not _all_ of them!" Bat-Mite replied. "'Random' does not automatically equal 'funny'!" he opened another door, which revealed a furry orange creature with a big green hat. "Sorry, wrong door!"

"My mistake!" The orange creature replied as Bat-Mite closed the door.

"Ugh! Where is that blasted door?!" Thunder Boy complained.

Darla opened a door before there was a boomingly loud roar in her face and Mary protected her while closing the door.

"Think, Billy," Lady Gothika said before opening one door which had another door with a short black-haired woman and a dark blonde man beside her as they looked through their own door to see a young blonde girl singing to herself with a poster for a "Group Home Talent Show" beside her before she shut it. "How'd you get out last time?"

"Well, uh, l-last time I thought about the subway and I was on the subway." Billy shrugged.

"Then Billy, look, think about the subway," Freddy advised. "Think about any place except for here, okay?"

Dr. Sivana soon held the glowing staff in his hand as he looked around and all over for the group before finding them.

"Come on, come on, come on." Billy muttered to himself as he tried to do that.

Dr. Sivana growled as he shot the staff and the magic shot out, about to hit the group, but they were instantly transported away and they ended up at the strip club that Billy and Freddy had visited before. The magical blast then shot through the door and missed them as they got away just in time.

* * *

The group soon left the strip club after they ended up there.

"Why are you covering my eyes?" Darla asked Mary, who was carrying her and covering her eyes.

"Really? This is the first place you think of? Wow!" Mary scoffed at her foster brother.

"You're welcome." Billy muttered.

"Why can't I see what's inside?" Darla asked.

"You are not old enough." Thunder Boy told her.

"Old enough to know that was great music." Darla defended.

Pedro shrugged indifferently. "Not my thing." he then replied.

"Niiiiice," Bat-Mite chuckled. "Wait... Where's Freddy?"

Said boy was the last one out of the establishment. "Yeah, you too, Sriracha, hey, have a holly, jolly Christmas!" he called inside as he left.

"Freddy, what are you doing?!" Billy asked incredulously.

"Ah, it's nice people!" Freddy replied.

"Nice pe...? Come on." Thunder Boy told him.

"Is that glitter?" asked Billy.

"They have glitter!" Darla exclaimed. "Can I get glitter?"

"No, not from them." Mary told her foster sister as she and the others ran.

"Please?" asked Darla.

They soon ran down the alley as there were flashing and blinking bright lights from inside the strip club.

"Please tell me someone just went back to the future." Thunder Boy guped slightly.

Everyone soon looked back at the establishment as Mary held onto Darla protectively as a glittery explosion came out from the building.

"Go, go, go, go!" Billy soon cried out and he soon decided to give Freddy some help in running. "Everybody go! Freddy, Freddy, Freddy."

"Looks like a friend of ours has come back for seconds." Midnight Moon glared from use of her telescopic vision.

"We better put some serious distance between us and him!" Bat-Mite declared.

Billy soon brought Freddy down to the ground once they were at a safe enough distance that was close within The Christmas Carnival.

"Come on." Thunder Boy said as they were ushered into the carnival.

"Walk, just be cool, act naturally, like kids naturally act in a carnival." Billy told his foster siblings.

"Billy, maybe you should switch back." Lady Gothika suggested.

Unfortunately, people began to notice Captain Thunder, which caused them to flock to the group and begin taking pictures of the superhero with their phones.

"Too late." Lady Gothika groaned.

"Hey! It's him! And he has The Toon Force with them!" A girl called out.

"Hey, we're famous." Midnight Moon smiled.

"Aw, jeez." Lady Gothika face-palmed.

"He's an impersonator, okay?" Freddy told the people.

"I'm an impersonator!" Billy panicked. "I'm a fake version of myself. Don't take pictures--"

The people kept crowding and did what they could to get a special memory with Captain Thunder until...

"Shazam!" Billy soon called out and he was shot by a bolt of lightning then sent him back to normal so the people would go away.

Thor then used his magic as well and suddenly changed himself and the others back in their civilian forms and just hoped and prayed that Dr. Sivana didn't see that. 

However, the villanous man did and began to fly right that way towards the Christmas Carnival. "Champion!" he called as he flew overhead. "You don't deserve that name! Hiding behind innocent people, who will now die... Because deep down, you're still just a scared little boy."

The crowd went dead silent.

"...RUN!" screamed a man in a Santa suit, and the crowd panicked as Sivana blew up a popcorn stand, and zapped the Ferris wheel with lightning, grinding it to a halt.

"Oh, no!" Cathleen cried out. "We can't just stand here!"

The infamous bully duo were shown to be on the Ferris Wheel and scared.

The Ferris Wheel operator soon tried to help out with the control panel, but the situation was becoming gravely worse.

"Well, you wanted me to be a hero." Billy soon told Freddy before he walked off.

Freddy's eyes widened. "Are you kidding? Okay, no," he then said to Billy. "Old guy's up there harboring multiple spiritual entities, plus, I mean, he has the same powers as you, plus, you know, a-and he knows what he's doing, plus, you're my best friend, I don't want you to die."

Billy looked touched, but he still decided to go through with it as he grew up in a sense, even without being Captain Thunder. "If a superhero can't save his family, he's not much of a hero." he soon said.

"...That was a decent catchphrase." Freddy said, feeling blown away.

"You guys are gonna help too," Billy told the Toon Force. "You wanted to help save the day? So you shall."

"Wow, Billy, that's really grown up of you," Cherry remarked. "I'm very impressed."

"You're gonna go far, kid," Lionel grinned, giving a thumbs-up.

Billy cracked his knuckles, and strode into action. "SHAZAM!" he called; and the magic lightning struck him, changing him back into Captain Thunder. He then flew up towards Dr. Sivana, ready to settle the score.

"Now... Let's try this again," Sivana told him, before he tried to punch him, and Captain Thunder caught his fist, moving it aside; he then threw Sivana to the ground, where he crashed.

Captain Thunder floated down to the ground. "Or try THAT again!" he called as Sivana got to his feet.

"You don't scare us," Midnight Moon glared. "I can be your worst nightmare very fast if you don't get out of my face."

"Charming..." Dr. Sivana snorted.

Captain Thunder looked over with a small smile at his siblings who were safe and sound. Dr. Sivana soon lowered his sunglasses which made them instantly panic.

Especially Freddy as the boy cried out, "GUYS, LOOK OUT!"

Captain Thunder ducked down before Lady Gothika brought out a bubble shield and the lasers blasted right off of the bubble and shot up high to the sky.

"Laser eyes?" Captain Thunder's eyes widened as he cried out. "Guys, he's got laser eyes!"

"Too bad your aim sucks balls!" Midnight Moon called out mockingly.

Suddenly, a monster jumped down from the sky and roared loudly, grabbing the group and threw them right into a Balloon Popping game instantly.

"HIS aim, however?" Thunder Boy grunted. "Actually decent..."

Just then, Freddy noticed something. "...His power matrix..."

"His what-what?" asked Eugene.

"When the demon guys leave his eye, he loses his powers." Freddy explained.

Bat-Mite's eyes widened. "That's why the Batarang hurt him...!" he grinned.

"Uh-oh... He's got that look in his eye..." Lady Gothika said to Thunder Boy.

"Does it come with a plan?" Thunder Boy asked Bat-Mite.

"It sure does!" Bat-Mite grinned. "Hey, over here!" he shouted.

Dr. Sivana turned to face the group.

Freddy looked pale. "W-What are you doing...?" he asked.

"Trust me; divide and conquer," Bat-Mite replied. "We separate the sins from the eye, an' he's just some old geezer!"

Sivana glowered at the group. "Gather the mutts," he ordered, as some of the Sins emerged from his mystic eye.

"Don't worry, kids," Bat-Mite urged as he stood fierce. "We've got your backs."

The Sins soon popped out after being summoned by Dr. Sivana and the group began to run at first. Darla and Eugene were grabbed while Pedro was hipped against another game stand. The Sins roared as Mary looked concerned, but she just kept on running. Thunder Boy began to charge up his thunder and lightning magic.

* * *

_**MEANWHILE...** _

Captain Thunder got to his feet as he regained his bearings, before he saw a terrified father and his daughter huddling nearby. What would a hero do in a time like this? Comfort the scared! So he reached over and handed them the tiger plushie that he'd wanted so long ago. "Here, take it; take it, it's for you," he urged. "Hold it tight. Close your eyes. Everything's gonna be okay. Okay? ...Okay."

And so, standing tall, Captain Thunder triumphantly charged towards Wrath... Only for said Sin to turn into a cloud of smoke, and he flew right through him, and then Wrath grabbed him by the cape, and slammed him around like a ragdoll. Billy winced, before getting slammed down again.

"Billy! Focus!" Lady Gothika called out.

"I'm trying!" Billy cried back to her. He then got back up and tried to punch right at Wrath.

Wrath then disappeared in smoke before he could get hit and the Sin soon morphed right behind Billy and lifted him up by his arms and soon roared right in the superhero's face.

"Shazam!" Captain Thunder called out and soon went running back as plain old Billy Batson over the ice.

Wrath soon went to chase after Billy before the Sin was tackled by a white tiger who snarled and pounced on Wrath, both of them roaring and growling while Billy ran for his life, though he had to wonder where the white tiger had come from.

Just then, the ice began to crack, and Billy fell through a hole in it, landing in a pool of icy water. He managed to climb out, but Sivana wasn't about to let him live. He began to suffocate the boy, trying to drown him.

"Playtime is over, boy," Sivana declared. "Your friends can't help you."

Billy tried to shout the word, but his voice couldn't pass through the water. "Shazam!" he kept trying, but only failed.

Mary came from behind one stand that had colorful teddy bears on it before looking at Cherry. "How good is your aim?" she then asked.

"Not so bad in my dreams," Cherry said before making two guns appear for them both to use with some sort of magic. "Luckily for me, my dreams can easily come true."

Mary nodded at her and they soon aimed and posed with the rifles.

"HEY!" Cherry called.

Dr. Sivana soon turned around and saw the girls as they soon shot instantly once they got his attention. He soon slowly turned around and grabbed the bullets that shot at him and he grabbed them without fear, looking unimpressed.

"...Well, shit." Cherry then said nervously.

"SHAZAM!" Billy shouted, now that he'd gotten a good lungful of oxygen.

At once, Dr. Sivana realized that he'd been duped by a distraction. The magic lightning came roaring down, and Captain Thunder was back in action, but his family was in danger, especially since the Sins had captured them.

"Nice trick. Catchy... One simple word," Sivana remarked. "I have a better trick. Four words: kill the little girl."

The others began to panic as Darla was being lifted towards one of the Sins' mouths. But before Greed could take a bite...

"STOP!" Billy shouted, as he strode forward.

"Yeah!" Bat-Mite added. "Leave 'em alone, ya butt-ugly snot rockets!"

"Ugh, those guys are gross." Midnight Moon complained.

The Sins soon let go of the foster siblings and Darla even punched Greed firmly with a nod upon Billy's demand. Billy and the Toon Force soon advanced, only for the Sins to grab the kids again, trying to eat them.

"You make me sick," Lady Gothika glared at Dr. Sivana. "I'm haunting your nightmares tonight."

"I'm soooo scared." Dr. Sivana scoffed at her.

"Guys, there's one more demon guy in his eye!" Freddy cried out suddenly. "You gotta just rip it out of his face--"

The Sin that grabbed him soon covered his mouth to shut him up.

"It's where he gets his power!" Mary quickly added once she had the chance.

"Good to know." Midnight Moon nodded.

"Reach for it," Dr. Sivana smirked sadistically. "I dare you."

Billy soon approached the villanous man and got down on one knee.

"Wise decision," Dr. Sivana soon nodded. "Hands on the staff."

Billy reached out, and clutched the staff's body, as Sivana recalled the Sins into his eye, but then, Billy remembered what the wizard had told him earlier in the movie.

* * *

**_(INSERT FLASHBACK/COPY-PASTE THE SCENE HERE)_ **

* * *

Billy then yanked the staff from Sivana's grasp, and used it to blast him a few feet away. He then turned to the others. "All hands on deck."

"Well... No time like the present." Bat-Mite said as he and the others, along with the foster siblings, clutched the staff.

"...Say my name." Billy told the others.

"...BILLY!" They all called.

Billy looked dumbstruck. "No, not my name! No! Say the name that I say to turn into Captain Thunder!" he exclaimed.

"Ohhhhh..." everyone said sheepishly. "...SHAZAM!"

And like usual, the lightning came down. As Billy gazed into the cloud of dust, he saw several lightning bolt emblems glowing; when the dust cleared, everyone who'd held the staff and said the word had gotten a serious supercharge. The Toon Force coughed from the thick smoke before gasping once they saw that Pedro, Eugene, Darla, Mary, and Freddy went through a dramatic change as they all wore outfits similar to Billy's, though different colors, and were also all grown up.

"Now you guys really are like a family," Thunder Boy smiled. "A Marvel family even!"

The former kids soon looked among themselves as they saw they had a super makeover and were whole new people after crying out "SHAZAM!".

"Guys. What's happening?" Freddy asked with wide eyes as he suddenly levitated off of the ground and soon looked really excited about what was happening to him. "I can fly!"

"Neat!" Midnight Moon smirked before flying over next to him. "Maybe we can have a race after this?"

"Maybe." Freddy smirked back.

"Guys," Pedro said as he flexed his arms. "Check out these guns."

Darla beamed out of interest and then poked his arm a bit.

"No..." Dr. Sivana cried out. "It's not possible!"

"Oh, but it is," Lady Gothika replied to the villanous bald man. "And we have enough teamwork to take you down... I've conquered Darkseid and King Sombra with my friends... I helped vanquish Lex Luthor... I laid in the belly of the beast of monsters all around the world during my travels and adventures, even counting The Big Bad Wolf and Rumplestiltskin, believe it or not... And I will grind you into dust with the power of teamwork and friendship."

"That sounds like something out of a cheesy girly cartoon." Midnight Moon commented.

"I don't care," Lady Gothika replied. "It's what I get for hanging around kids like Atticus Fudo, you could learn a lot from our adventures."

"Now zip your beak and let's kick these creeps' butts!" Bat-Mite declared.

"Gee whiz, Mister. Sorry I took your cane. You want it back?" Billy smirked at Dr. Sivana and soon grabbed the staff and broke it in half with his knee.

Dr. Sivana looked horrified that the staff was now broken and was useless.

"Guys, I don't believe in violence, but I think Bat-Mite is right... We should kick this guy's butt, like, really hard." Darla soon said.

The Toon Force and Marvel family soon grinned darkly and looked ready to give Dr. Sivana the pounding of a lifetime. Freddy smirked as he even flipped Sivana a double bird as he floated in the air. Sivana soon conjured up a jolt of electricty and shot it right at the group in front of him, hitting Thunder Boy against a stand.

Darla looked wide-eyed and suddenly zipped over to help up Thunder Boy and came back, almost as fast as The Flash. "Guys, I think I can move really fast." she then said to her foster siblings.

"Hyperspeed! Check!" Freddy exclaimed in excitement.

"You okay, Thunder Boy?" Lady Gothika asked in concern.

"I've been zapped... I feel stronger..." Thunder Boy said before he grinned darkly and brought out a hammer as his voice deepened and he sounded like an adult hero now. "I... CAN... **FIGHT!** "

Bat-Mite blushed to himself. "Well, ah do declare~!" he smirked.

At once, Sivana began to unleash six of the sins from his body.

"Billy!" Freddy pointed. "The eye!"

Sivana immediately smacked into Billy, and they both flew off into the night sky to duel.

"All right, guys, let's handle these Butt Ugly Sins." Midnight Moon declared.

"Right!" The rest of the Toon Force agreed.

One of the Sins soon came up right behind Eugene.

"Look out!" Freddy cried out.

Eugene glanced over and yelped before shooting away the hungry Sin with the power of electric fingertips.

"Careful with that," Thunder Boy advised. "Electricity can be a bit unpredictable."

Eugene then zapped a bit more, though hit some hay as Darla zipped out of the way before she could get shocked, quite literally.

"Whoa!" Darla glared at him.

"What?" Eugene asked.

"You almost exploded me!" Darla snapped.

Another Sin came up to Pedro, about to hit him, though Pedro seemed to easily grab onto its arm. He then saw this and threw it down against the ground and flung it away. The Sin fell down, but roared as it refused to stay down, but it was still impressive of what Pedro did. Mary was being grabbed by the tentacles of another Sin, but she judo-slammed it over her head.

This left Freddy with another of the Sins. "Dude, I've studied the fighting techniques of every single superhero. What do you got?" he asked.

The Sin simply began to extend its claws to razor-sharp talons.

"...Well, that's terrifying." Freddy remarked, before running for it and flying off.

* * *

**_MEANWHILE..._ **

Sivana was still flying after Billy in hot pursuit. Billy tried to look tough while looking back at Sivana. Sivana soon shot out a jolt of electricity and aimed it right for Billy... Only for Billy to narrowly dodge out of the way and it hit the top of a nearby building they flew beside that had a statue on it, crumbling it into pieces. People on the ground went about their business, walking around and even a young couple took a selfie together until suddenly... The statue head slammed down around them which startled them instantly.

"We gotta help Billy!" Midnight Moon said after shooting her laser eyes. "We can't just stand here on the ground!"

"We will," Bat-Mite replied. "But ONLY if he needs it. We've already got our hands full down here!"

"Why won't you guys die?!" Thunder Boy glared as he was surrounded by the Sins. "You want more, huh? Well, here!" he then jumped up and whacked them on their heads. "This is for eating up all of my tokens at Chuck E. Cheese's!"

* * *

**_ELSEWHERE, UP IN THE SKY..._ **

"Enough games, boy," Sivana declared. "You think a pack of children can--"

But Billy couldn't hear him, since he was too far away. "Wait, what?!"

"You will beg for mercy as I feast on your heart. Slowly--"

"Are you making some big, evil guy speech right now or something? You're like, a mile away from me right now. There's cars and trucks..."

"I will have the world eating out of the palm of my hand--"

"All I see is mouth moving. I don't hear any..."

"Only I have the power to unleash--"

Billy finally just shrugged. "Oh, whatever, screw it." And he charged at Sivana, who charged at him.

* * *

Meanwhile, a little boy was shown to be playing with a pair of action figures to that of Batman and Superman, making them fight each other. He then gasped as he looked out the window as Billy and Sivana collided into each other, only Sivana went flying. Billy glared as he looked brave and fierce while in the sky before shooting down after Sivana as the young boy dropped his action figures in awestruck as he looked motivated about becoming a superhero himself someday as this was truly a "golden moment" from his youth. Freddy was soon shown to be flying away from the winged Sin who chased after him before they suddenly passed the Ferris Wheel. The Sin then hit the wheel which made the people inside scream since that shook them a bit. The Sin then flew away off of the ground as the Ferris Wheel was close to coming lose from its cable cord.

"Oh, my gosh, those people!" Darla gasped as she stood beside Pedro and Lady Gothika.

"I don't think I can make a bubble big enough for those people to be concealed in," Lady Gothika said. "We might have to run in and save them, I see a woman about to fall out of her cart."

"Then LET'S!" Bat-Mite replied, as Darla zipped out to catch the woman who'd fallen out of her cart.

"Hi!" Darla beamed to the nervous woman. "I caught you!"

As she got the woman to safety, Pedro got under the wheel to keep it from breaking. "I got it! I got it!" he grunted, straining under the weight. "...Oh, my God, I do got it..."

"Lift with your knees and not your back, Pedro!" Lady Gothika called out. "That's what Saiyaman does with Superman!"

"You got it!" Pedro called back to her.

One of the Sins soon grabbed a man and a woman by his four arms and began to dangle them over the top of the Ferris Wheel. Lady Gothika soon teleported up there suddenly, grabbing the couple and kicked the Sin in the face, pushing him off of the wheel and soon teleported back on the ground with a small smirk.

"Are you magic?" The man asked.

"I'm not sure what I am honestly." Lady Gothika replied.

Freddy was still flying around with his Sin chasing after him. "You're not going to believe this, but you're actually the first villain I've ever fought. It's like kind of a huge deal for me." he then said.

"Save some for me!" Midnight Moon called out as she flew after him.

Drell watched Midnight Moon's progress and took some notes on a clipboard. "A little cocky... Very full of herself..." he then listed as he made his notes. "Not too bad so far..."

"Well, so far so good!" Bat-Mite remarked as he was riding one of the Sins like a cowboy on a horse.

* * *

Drell soon watched the others in The Toon Force as they called themselves.

* * *

"You guys feel like we're being watched?" Lady Gothika asked.

"It wouldn't surprise me honestly." Thunder Boy replied as he knew how his uncle could be sometimes.

"It's happened before!" Bat-Mite replied as he began hogtying said Sin with an energy rope.

The Sin roared while trying to buck him off, but would of course only fail.

"Got him!" Bat-Mite whooped.

"Way to go, Mitey Mite!" Thunder Boy giggled from on top of one of his clouds.

"Aw, it was no problem!" Bat-Mite winked, as above, Freddy was carrying the bully brothers by their underwear.

"Oh man! Is he giving us suitcase wedgies?!" asked one of them.

In the city, Captain Thunder and Dr. Sivana grappled in the skies. Billy reached for his evil eye, but Sivana threw him into the roof of a building.

The evil man soon jumped down and landed right in front of Billy in a merciless and menacing manner.

Billy soon slowly stood up and turned around to see his new enemy.

Sivana just glared at him, breathing sharply and heavily.

"So this is about your Seven Deadly Sins, right?" Billy asked as he spoke as bravely as he could. "I mean, I've never been great at math, but, uh... The big, angry one, that's Wrath, yeah?"

Sivana didn't answer him as he just looked murderous in his eyes.

"And then Gluttony, obvi. Pride. Greed and Sloth, Lust, who I thought was gonna be way hotter, if I'm being honest," Billy continued before laughing a little before narrowing his eyes courageously. "But that's only six. Where's... Where's lucky number seven? Where's little man? Where's Envy? Is he just scared of me and my family and friends 'cuz we're so awesome? 'Cuz I get that."

Sivana snarled as a monstrous face was shown briefly before going back to his original face.

"Like, the other sins, they get to come out and fight 'cuz they're big and strong and scary, but Envy, he's just a runt," Billy soon continued as he slowly began to realize that Sivana himself represented the Sin of Envy. "And that's why all the other sins never invite him out to play, man."

Sivana sneered as his hands began to glow.

"'Cuz they all know who'd win," Billy then added. "And it's not weak, worthless, ugly Envy."

With a roar of rage, Envy jumped out of Sivana's body...taking his power with him. And without any power, Sivana began to fall to the ground, but he clung to a piece of scaffolding.

Envy roared in Captain Thunder's face, as he tackled him. "STILL THINK I'M SCARED?! THAT I'M WEAK AND WORTHLESS?!"

Captain Thunder just smirked. "...Gotcha. SHAZAM!!" he called out.

As Envy looked up, a bolt of lightning came down, destroying him and changing Captain Thunder back into Billy. Sivana yelled out as he was falling to his death.

"Oh, no. Sivana's in trouble." Thunder Boy said as he looked through binoculars.

"Someone should save him." Lady Gothika replied in a cynical tone.

"Yes, someone should." Thunder Boy nodded in the same way.

"Ah, let him splat!" Midnight Moon rolled her eyes. "He totally deserves it."

"That might be how _you_ handle things, but not us. We're superheroes, not cold-blooded killers," Bat-Mite snapped. "This is _DC_ , not _Image_."

Fortunately, Billy managed to change back into Captain Thunder and grab Sivana a foot from the ground.

"Heh. Right on cue," Thunder Boy chuckled once he saw Billy. "I figured he'd step in sooner or later."

"Ready to go round up your buddies?" Billy smirked at Sivana before he soon flew off with him.

Some smoke cleared and Envy was soon shown, snarling as he was not done with Billy just yet.

"Uh-oh," Thunder Boy told Lady Gothika, Midnight Moon, and Bat-Mite. "I don't think Billy's done just yet."

"He oughta have things wrapped up," Bat-Mite replied, as Captain Thunder flew down and began to remove the eye from Sivana's eye socket. While doing so, removing the eye sucked the Sins back inside the eye, one by one. "See? He has it all taken care of, and _NOBODY_ NEEDED TO BE MURDERED." he added, glaring at Midnight Moon.

"I would've brought him back somehow." Midnight Moon said.

"Yeah? How?" Thunder Boy asked.

"By asking your uncle of course," Midnight Moon replied. "Then if he didn't, ask you."

"Hmm..." Thunder Boy narrowed his eyes. "Whatever..."

"Regardless, we don't handle things that way. We don't play judge, jury and executioners," Bat-Mite replied. "That's not how The Toon Force handles things!"

"Hmm... All right..." Midnight Moon then said as she saw she had more to learn than just beating up bad guys to become a true superhero.

The Sins soon began to fade away from the Marvel family after Dr. Sivana had his eye removed because of Billy.

"You guys did great," Lady Gothika said to Billy's foster siblings. "You should try something like that down at the League of Justice."

The others smiled at that... Even Freddy while Lady Gothika hid an eye roll away from him since he had badmouthed The Toon Force earlier, but she decided not to let it get to her.

"Here's the thing about power," Billy said to Sivana as he carried the Eye of Sin in his hand as it became bigger and more round like a crystal orb. "What good is power if you got nobody to share it with?"

"Yeah," Bat-Mite added. "Power has a tendency to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"I guess I kinda got that way when I first met you guys and you found out about my powers." Midnight Moon said to Bat-Mite, Lady Gothika, and Thunder Boy.

"A bit, yeah," Lady Gothika replied. "If I wanted an obnoxious twerp to do better than me, I'd stay home with Damian or go to the Titans with him," she then smirked slightly. "And see his new girlfriend, Raven~""Ooo~oo!" Bat-Mite and Thunder Boy smirked.

"Nice."

"That's disgusting."

"Ta-dah!"

"Fatality!"

Billy chuckled, before he began moving the orb towards his face. "What's that? ...I can have anything I've ever wanted?" he muttered.

Everyone began shouting for Billy not to do it and as soon as it was an inch from his face, he yoinked it away. "Oh, man, you shoulda seen your faces!" he laughed.

"Not funny." Mary replied, though she was a little amused.

"You think I'm gonna put a demon ball in my eye?" Billy laughed. "That's disgusting!"

Lady Gothika smirked and laughed a bit darkly.

"Ew." Midnight Moon only winced slightly, though she did find it funny too.

The others complained playfully and interjected as Billy showed that he was only kidding.

"Uh, guys?" Mary spoke up as they suddenly grew silent.

The others looked around before turning around and saw that they had a crowd of very proud and thankful citizens for their town's new saviors.

"Oh, hey," Billy waved feebly to the crowd that grew before their very eyes. "All right, we did it!" he then cheered as well.

"Well, I'll be," Midnight Moon smiled. "This must be what it's like to be Power Girl, Superman, or Batman."

"PG or Supes, maybe," Bat-Mite replied. "Batman doesn't like the attention. Also, you know, he _is_ looked on as a vigilante who acts outside the law."

"...I knew that." Midnight Moon defended.

"If you say so." Lady Gothika replied.

"So what do we do now?" Thunder Boy asked. "Return The Eye of Sin back to where it's supposed to go?"

"Sounds good to me," Bat-Mite replied. "The sooner, the better!"

"Great idea!" Freddy smirked. "Glad I thought of it."

Thunder Boy gave Freddy a look off that.

"...What?" Freddy shrugged defenisvely.

And so, they came back into the Lair of Shazam as Billy put the artifact back in place and as he did, some smoke filled the air and the lair was slowly being restored back to the way it was before.


	7. Chapter 7

"Way to go, Billy." Lady Gothika approved.

"You're coming along nicely, kid," Bat-Mite replied as he changed back to Lionel. "So maybe somebody owes us an apology?"

"What did I do now?" Midnight Moon asked.

"No, not you!" Lionel remarked. "Freddy!"

"Huh?" Freddy asked.

The Toon Force changed back to normal and gave him a collective glare.

"Ohh..." Freddy said. "Uh, sorry I made fun of you guys... I was actually kinda jealous."

"Jealous?" Cherry asked. "Really?"

"Yeah," Freddy replied. "You guys were chosen to hang out with The Justice League while I was just some dopey kid with crutches. Do you know how lucky you are and amazing it would be to be on a superhero team like you guys?"

"Well... It's pretty tough, honestly," Thor replied. "And pretty mentally and emotionally taxing."

"It's still pretty cool," Freddy said. "Uh, you won't tell Saiyaman what I said about him, will ya?"

"Let's just say if you happen to run into him should we ever meet him again, you owe him a big apology," Cherry advised. "I don't take kindly to when people insult him."

"...Is he your boyfriend?" Freddy asked.

Cherry then suddenly cupped her mouth as her cheeks puffed out with sickly tears in her eyes as she let out a nauseated groan.

"Just saying..." Freddy shrugged. "You were oddly defensive of him."

Cherry then gulped down to get rid of the sick feeling. "He's like my brother," she then explained in a raspy voice. "But if we ever meet again, you are going to apologize to him or I will haunt your nightmares." she then threatened sharply.

"Besides, _we're_ her boyfriends." Thor said as he held Lionel on his shoulder.

"Don't question it too much, you'll strain your brain." Lionel added.

Freddy let out a sound and grunt before shrugging and shaking his head. "So, uh, you guys know what this place is, right?" he then asked the others once they got that all sorted out.

"A dark haunted cave with demon statues?" Darla shrugged.

"Well, yes, but also--" Freddy began.

"Lair!" Billy realized out of excitement. "We got a lair!"

"Lair." Mary smiled in amusement.

The siblings all then cheered and laughed happily once they had their very own superhero lair.

"Yeah. We got a lair." Freddy beamed.

"...What's a lair?" Darla soon asked out of confusion.

"Uh, pretty much a hang-out spot for you to meet as heroes and plan against villains," Cathleen replied. "I consider my bedroom to be a lair."

"Oh, okay then." Darla then said.

"Well, I think you guys have got it handled here," Lionel stated. "Glad we could help you out!"

Billy smiled warmly at his siblings as this was the beginning of something wonderful and new.

* * *

**_Later on..._ **

**"And thanks to six superheroes and The Toon Force, the young helpers of The Justice League, citizens are back in their homes safe again with their families,"** A newswoman reported with a smile at the sight of the Christmas carnival for the next morning. **"And here with an eyewitness account of the events--"**

 **"It was (bleep)ing crazy, man!"** Santa cried out as he rushed over and swiped the microphone, having a bit of a mental breakdown. **"Creatures from (bleep)ing Hell! Lightning coming out of everyone's (bleep)in' everything! And that is not (bleep)ing cool, man! I'm tired of it!"**

The TV soon clicked off as Atticus and Mo were in a hotel room together, sitting on the bed.

"Man, a lot of crazy things happen in this world." Atticus said to Mo as he turned off the TV with the remote.

"Tell me about it," Mo said as she nuzzled up to him. "Makes me glad we have each other and our friends."

"That's for sure~" Atticus smirked as he began to cuddle back with her.

* * *

The next day at school, Freddy was sitting by himself at lunchtime, but somehow, now that he'd helped save the world, it didn't feel as important to him as it once had. Cherry, Cathleen, Lionel, and Thor checked on Freddy to make sure he would be alright as he began to slowly change, even if no one really wanted to sit with him at the cafeteria.

"What are you doin'?" Burke smirked as he passed by Freddy, taking a fry off of his tray and ate it. "Waiting for your imaginary BFF to show up?"

Freddy just sighed as he was about to eat his lunch until his table was suddenly filled with his foster siblings. "What are you guys doing here?" he then asked.

"Well, we're having lunch with you." Mary replied.

"But you guys have different lunch periods." Freddy reminded.

"Well, we made a very special arrangement." Mary explained.

Darla looked around innocently off that reply.

"Darla, what's going on?" Freddy demanded as he suspected something.

"Why are you asking me?" Darla asked innocently.

"Freddy Freeman!" Billy called out as he soon came into the cafeteria in his superhero form as everyone else grew shocked. "This guy taught me everything I know about being a dope superhero," he then told the students before he sat down next to Freddy. "True story, you should get some pointers from him. What's going on, my best bud in the whole world? And also new kids that I'm meeting for the first time, but seem very cool. Uh, I invited another friend, I hope that's okay." he then added.

Atticus soon came over to Cherry, Cathleen, Lionel, and Thor.

"What're you doing here?" Cathleen asked him.

"Wait for it." Atticus smiled innocently.

Just then, a familiar tune began to play as the students turned to see Superman himself, holding a lunch tray and coming over to the table. "Did I miss lunch?" he asked.

Freddy's jaw practically hit the ground. Atticus smiled calmly once he saw Superman while the rest of the Toon Force glanced at him.

"Guess that was your doing, Superboy?" Cathleen asked Atticus.

"Yep!" Atticus smiled. "Good to see you guys again. I've missed you."

"And we missed you too, buddy," Thor replied. "We can head back to my place, but hopefully after lunch."

"Sure, Thor, after lunch." Atticus chuckled.

"So does this mean I can join you guys?" Cathleen asked.

"It's up to Drell," Cherry replied. "He'll watch your performance and rank you to see if you're good to go or not."

"I hope I did alright," Cathleen said. "I had to go through hardcore training with him in order to come here in the first place... Even though I'd found out that Power Girl is my aunt... Plus he said he could sense some magical DNA in me somewhere." she then added.

"I suppose we'll find out when the time comes." Mo replied.

"Mo." The others greeted.

"Hey there," Mo smiled. "Hope you guys didn't have too much fun without us."

"Maybe just a little bit," Thor smirked. "At least Freddy learned his lesson."

"And became a better person for it!" Lionel added.

The group then decided to eat their lunch before they decided it would be time to go back home after another big and epic adventure had come and gone for them. And they returned home, knowing that the power of Shazam was definitely in good hands.

* * *

"Well, kids, that was really interesting, wasn't it?" Drell asked once he saw them all in his office. "Sorry you missed most of that, Atticus and Mo."

"That's okay, we had other commitments anyway." Mo reassured.

"So am I in the Justice League and Toon Force?" Cathleen asked hopefully.

"I'll let you know when I made my choice after your next big mission." Drell replied.

"...Which will be...?" Atticus prompted, hoping he would actually say instead of just making them guess.

"Sorry, no spoilers," Drell smirked. "You'll find out later."

"Oh, come on!" Cathleen complained. "I didn't move into this town just to play guessing games!"

"Don't make me turn you into a toad," Drell warned as he rolled his eyes at her threats. "I can tell you have a lot of fire in your heart. You almost remind me of a very young Hilda Spellman."

"Well, that's fine with me," Mo replied. "After all, you've only had one adventure."

"So hopefully you do better on the next one." Lionel added.

"Whatever it is." Cathleen shrugged.

"You'll find out later, but good job either way," Drell replied. "Just watch that attitude of yours. You remind me of a Lycan."

"Isn't she part werewolf or something?" asked Thor.

"That must be what I'm sensing," Drell smirked as he leaned over. "Cuz none of you are actually human... Except for Mo, though I'm not exactly sure what she is."

"Maybe she's a tree nymph." Cherry smirked back.

Mo glanced over, not sure how to react to that smart remark.

"So a Lycan and a werewolf are the same thing?" Thor asked.

"Yeah," Cathleen rolled her eyes. "Lycan's an old-fashioned term, my dad taught me that."

"Well, alright then," Lionel replied. "I think most of everything has been wrapped up for this one."

"All right, now go, go on, beat it!" Drell dismissed them as they walked out of his office.

* * *

The kids then began to leave as Hilda was shown to be in the foggy waiting room as she played on her phone.

"You stupid birds..." Hilda muttered as she played on her phone. "I'll show you what angry looks like..."

"Hilda?" Cherry asked. "What're _you_ doing here?"

"Uh, I broke one of the Other Realm rules and I need to be punished in person?" Hilda grinned innocently.

Lionel shrugged. "...Somehow I don't actually believe that."

Hilda soon got up and pushed them out the other door back into the Mortal Realm.

"Hey! No pushing!" Cathleen complained.

Hilda then leaned on the door after shutting it as thunder and lightning came from the other side.

"Oh, Hilda?~" Drell's voice called. "I think you and I have to have a talk~"

Hilda then giggled impishly as she skipped over to his office door and opened it before shutting it behind her and began to jump out at him. The kids soon made it back home on top of each other and soon got up to do something else after another new adventure came to an end. Either way, it was definitely the start of something new, but for now, it was The End.


End file.
